Thunderbird
by EggGrace-ThatWouldBeMe
Summary: Haruto Arashi is a powerhouse with an attitude. She's Ochaco Uraraka's bestie and the only person to return Katsuki Bakugo's death threats with some of her own. Meet Haruto's amazing family, from her Pro Hero father to her ice-spike shooting little brothers. Follow the Thunderbird on her journey to become a Pro Hero and survive high school! (Rated T for violence and language.)
1. Chapter 1

Hi, my name is Haruto. Haruto Arashi. Let me clear something up really quickly: I am a GIRL. My parents were expecting a boy, got everything embroidered and emblazoned and engraved with "Haruto," and decided not to pick another name for their only daughter.

Guess I'll tell you what I look like. I'm maybe 175 centimeters tall. (A little over six feet for Americans). I'm built like a reed; all delicate and skinny, except right now- because of puberty- I look kind of like one of those walking stick insects. I have big brown eyes that sometimes look like honey in the right light. I have pretty standard hair. It's thick and black. To shake things up, I have it cut in a pixie that is spiky and cute and frames my face. My face is heart-shaped, my nose is small and my lips are on the thinner side. I have a little smiley face scar on my left cheekbone back near my ear. I fell on concrete when I was seven and slit my face open on a rock in just the right way. It makes me smile sometimes.

A little bit about me: I am 15 right now, my birthday's on the 11th of January, and I am a Capricorn. I have six little brothers, all of whom are (three sets of) twins. Everybody has a different Quirk in my family. Eiichi and Eito, my youngest brothers, just popped their Quirks at four. They can shoot little ice spikes out of their fingertips, and their Quirk is called Frostbite. (Ouch) My next oldest twin brothers- they're eight- Taine and Tait- have the Quirk Arthritis. They literally make people's joints hurt by partially freezing them. (Notice a theme?) The last set- Hades and Mienai- they're eleven- can spew kilometers worth of mist from their noses. (Ew) I'm not even sure their Quirk _has_ a name.

My parents, Daichi and Samantha (she's American), both have Quirks completely different than the rest of the family. Papa's is called Seabird (We'll get to it later) and Mom's is Rain Dance (she can make tiny rain clouds, about as big as a basketball). My dad's a mechanic and my mom's a physical therapist. My dad has these sweet wings. They're like the wings of a sea bird (hence his Quirk's name) and they start at his shoulder blades. The tips almost reach the floor. He used to fly a lot, but not so much anymore. He was actually a sidekick to All Might and Sir Nighteye for a while, mostly helping with rescue operations. After a bad thunderstorm before my second-oldest brothers were born, an I-beam collapsed on his wings. They never healed quite right. _He _never healed quite right.

Papa thought it was my fault.

Now we get to my Quirk. I arguably have the best Quirk in my family- it's called Thunderbird. I have full control over weather patterns, but I _love_ channeling lightning. I inherited my dad's wings, but mine are like a hawk's wings. They're speckled brown and I think they're black underneath. When I fold them tightly against my back, the tips of my longest feathers almost reach the floor, and the tips of the joints peek over my head. My wingspan is twice as long as I am tall, which means I can't easily spread them indoors.

I found out I had my Quirk at a playgroup when I was three. I made it violently thunderstorm outside, then BAM! I had my Quirk. (I was born with the wings.)

I've wanted to be a Pro Hero since I was old enough to think. I used to watch tapes of Pro Hero Hawks online and try to copy his flying techniques. I can't use my feathers like swords, but I _did _manage to figure out a pretty mean corkscrew! Hopefully, I'll get to meet him one day. Maybe _when _(It's going to happen) I become a Pro Hero, I'll name myself after him: "The Wing Hero: Thunderbird!" I also think that Midnight is pretty cool, sometimes not even having to touch an adversary to have them down for the count. I take inspiration from her technique when I'm practicing my lightning strikes.

The only problem is, I have mild Epilepsy. And after using my Quirk for an extended period of time, I'm super prone to seizures. It was scary, but I managed to find out that my natural disaster limit is about half an hour for a super typhoon (Don't worry, I tested it in the middle of the ocean). Basic weather (sun, snow, rain, wind) is about three hours. Flying is about four hours. Lightning depends. Nothing's wrong with how much or how powerfully, just a time limit.

So, naturally, I decided to test into U.A. Only the most prestigious hero course in Japan. Then, my father got in touch with his old agency (remember, he was one of All Might's sidekicks), and got them to recommend me into U.A. Guess what? _I got into the Hero Course! _I was so over the moon when I got the news, I made it snow a little inside my house without meaning to.

Then, about a week later, I got a call from a new number.

"Hello, the Arashi residence. This is Haruto speaking." The speaker was flustered, "Hi, my name is Ochaco Uraraka. I'm testing into U.A. too next week. I was hoping to make a friend beforehand- you know, in case we both flunk or both make it. Er- you are a girl, right?" I smiled into the phone, "Hi, Ochaco. I am a girl, and I would love to be your friend. But, um- I got in on recommendation. Maybe I'll swing by the day of the entrance exam?" She sighed on the other end, "You're so lucky! And I would love to see you that day. Real quick- don't let me touch you!" And hung up. What kind of girl leaves on a cliffhanger like _that_? I dialed her back at least four times. Nada. Wow. This chick really liked her suspense.

If I really was going to swing by, this girl was going to _explain_.

The day of the entrance exam, I spent all morning preening my wings. Of course I'd slept on them weird and pressed the feathers in every which way. Then I hastily combed my pixie and donned my flight goggles. (Who wants to get a bug in their eye?) I had on a blue blouse, black pleated skirt, and white knee-high socks with my shiny new tennis shoes.

I smooched my family and took off, summoning a gentle wind to push me along. When I pulled up to the school, I figured I'd land with a bang. I dove down and landed on one knee, hands on the ground, head down. I stretched my wings out as I stood. About sixty other applicants were absolutely gaping at me. I smiled sweetly and made a peace sign with my fingers. Now the testers knew who they were dealing with.

I made my way to a group of girls chatting by the doors. When they saw me, they wrinkled their noses and turned away. Well, then.

I eavesdropped a little. (Don't judge, they weren't exactly quiet) _That's the recommendation girl. She came to show off, didn't she? Spoilt brat. _

I was about ready to slap 'em. I decided to do something to cool off.

So I looked for Ochaco Uraraka. I found her in a girl standing by herself at the back of the crowd. She had a bob of bubbly brown hair. (Heh) Her cheeks were rosy and round. She just looked really sweet and innocent.

"Hi," I said happily. She jumped. "I'm Haruto Arashi!" She smiled, "I'm Ochaco! I remember calling you." I grinned. "You have a pretty cool Quirk, you know, with the wings." An idea popped into my head, "My Quirk isn't just the wings. Wanna see?" She nodded.

I looked up at the sun and removed my goggles. I glanced at her before summoning a rain cloud. I yanked the rain cloud over the gathering area and opened it up- on everyone but Ochaco and I. I laughed and the rain poured harder. The other applicants were scrambling for shelter. With a snap of my fingers, the rain disappeared as quickly as it had rolled in. A rainbow stretched through the sky.

"How about yours?" I pondered. She smiled and tapped my hand with a finger. I floated up. I flared my wings for balance as I wobbled through the air. She pressed her fingertips together and I plopped down onto my bottom. I'm pretty sure my jaw had dropped in that time, because it snapped shut with the force. I leapt up, "That is so cool!" Maybe she had telekinesis! Or some kind of levitation Quirk!

I must've been nerding out, because she turned bright pink and blurted, "My Quirk's called Anti-Gravity!" I grinned sheepishly. A boy with really messy hair walked behind her and tripped. She whipped around and tapped him, preventing him from falling. I gaped. I summoned a teeny gust of wind and blew him upright before Ochaco released him.

My phone beeped just as I was about to introduce myself. My mom must've said something. Nobody else ever texted me… "I'm Haruto Arashi," I said quickly. His hand was wet when I shook it. I winced, "Sorry about the rain, that was my bad." He stammered. Ochaco spoke for him, "This is Izuku Midoriya. He's testing in with me."

"Sorry, I've got to take this," I moaned as my phone lit up with sound. I peeled away and answered it, "Hi, Mom. What's going on?" There was a raspberry on the other end, "It's not Mom, it's Eito!" "-and Eiichi!"

"Ok, what do you guys need?" There was quiet whispering. "On your way home, can you get some of the stuff called _peanut butter_?" "- Mom said it sticks your mouth shut!" I rolled my eyes, "So you want to test it?" Two loud _mm-hmm_s made my smile grow. "Ok, fine. But you're paying me back every yen, you understand?" They hung up with an ear-grating "BYE!"

I turned back to Ochaco, only to find a small, furry animal standing between us. "Hello, Miss Arashi!" he said chipperly. (Omigosh, he was sooooo cute!) "Uh- hi... Principal Nezu?" I stammered. He laughed, "That's right. It's me, Nezu, the one who could be a dog or a mouse or a bear, but more importantly, I'm the principal!" Nezu paused, then popped up again, "Miss Arashi, I need you to keep today sunny, a constant 28 degrees, and windless, if you please!" I hastily made the changes, the air cooling. I hadn't realized how hot it was.

"Principal Nezu?" I said. He _hmm_?-ed. "I can only hold this weather for about three hours. It's my Quirk's drawback." "Absolutely fine with me! The tests shouldn't take very long at all!"

As he waddled away, Ochaco moaned, "I don't know if a short test is a good thing or a bad thing." I smiled and patted her shoulder, "I'm sure you'll do great!" She smiled weakly back as I took off.

I had to go to _four stores_ to find a jar of peanut butter. (Big enough for my brothers, anyway) I still ended up getting three. One for each pair of twins. I shoved them into a bag and took off for home. We were in a tiny little two-floor apartment building on the second floor. We'd built a small landing pad on the roof for my dad and I. I set down gently and leapt off of the platform.

After descending the flight of stairs to the roof, I reached the sad, battered door of our apartment. I could hear muffled sounds of a video game, a heated game of chess, and the nearly imperceptible sounds of book pages flipping.

I unlocked and pushed open the door. Eiichi and Eito were tangled with each other on the couch reading picture books. Taine and Tait were almost on top of them, engrossed in a racing game on the tv. Hades and Mienai were sitting silently at the kitchen table, a restarted chess board between them. All six heads snapped up when I took the first jar out.

I smiled and got out seven spoons. I dropped one and set the other six on the counter. I bent down to pick it up. When I stood back up, all six spoons and all three jars had mysteriously disappeared. I searched the house for a solid thirty minutes before finding them huddled in a closet. My wings iced over, my vision was clouded, AND tiny spikes rolled underfoot. "Alright! That's enough!" I yelled, funneling in a solid blast of wind. The Quirks deactivated and I was greeted by six scowling, sticky faces.

I dragged them to the bathroom and scrubbed them until their faces were pink. After some whining and tears, I let them have more peanut butter. Well, scrape the jars, anyway.

We heard banging. Dad was home! He minced into the kitchen. His wings hung limply behind him. Dad was covered in grease; his hands, his face, his hair were all black. He took us in, a tiny smile crossing his face, "Hey, boys. How were your days at school?" I sighed a tiny bit. Dad was usually like this. All about his sons. "Haruto, why is the counter messy? I thought you were supposed to keep it clear for your Momma."

"I just haven't cleaned up after snack, Papa. I'll get right on it," I chirped. He frowned a bit, "It should have been done by now. If you're gonna be a Pro Hero like Hawks, you have to work hard." I frowned back. I bribed my brothers into helping me with cleaning with more peanut butter. And I mean _a lot_, two jars each!

They still managed to find things to whine and bicker about. _But Eito doesn't have to clean with a rag! Tait gets to spray the cleaner, but _I _don't? No, it's Hades's turn to clean the sink! _I was about ready to plant their whiny butts on the couch and do it myself.

But man, did I love my brothers. I couldn't help but smile at their bickering. Having a twin would be nice, I supposed. But six little brothers had to be the next best thing.

* * *

**So, welcome! We'll get to some UA action in a week or two, so hope to see you then!**


	2. Chapter 2

Finally, the first day of school came.

The UA uniform was adorable! I loved my crimson tie and my long white socks! They even issued hair ribbons! Of course, my hair wasn't long enough for ribbons. That bummed me out a bit. So I made myself a cute little bracelet. After taking about fifty pictures for my mom, I bade my family a (tearful, believe me) goodbye. Taking off from our landing pad, I blew eight kisses back to my waving family. I saw Eiichi and Eito crying happy tears, grinning their shiny faces off. I got a little teary, too. And then, I set down in the courtyard of UA high school.

First impression: the guy with the spiky blonde hair was a jerk.

He bumped into me, hard, "Watch where you're going, bird brain." I rolled my eyes, "Real original. Haven't heard that one before." "Who the hell are you, anyway?" "None of your business!" He had tiny explosions firing off in his hands. "Nice sparkles, there," I scoffed. The explosions got bigger, "Another word and I'll blow you to hell!" My face was centimeters from his, twisted into a snarl, "Try it, sparkles!"

"If my Quirk sucks so much, what's yours?" I floated up, my wings spread, conjuring a lightning storm over the sun, "Your worst nightmare." Principal Nezu walked between us, "Mr. Bakugo, Miss Arashi, this behavior needs to stop," he said chipperly. Bakugo growled, but stalked off. I let the sun out and set down, apologizing profusely.

I bowed so low my forehead bonked against the ground. A couple girls snorted as they walked by. One of these days, I was going to give them frostbite. And then a sunburn. The thought made me smile a bit as I rose back up and apologized again.

I found my class listing and made my way over. The classroom door was huge, but THANK GOODNESS my wings fit without having to squish. I was the second person there, a boy already sitting ramrod-straight at a desk. I adjusted my tie. He made me feel really sloppy- he looked like someone had ironed his whole body. Short, pristinely combed black hair, small glasses perched on the end of his nose. He stood up, offering me his hand, "I am Tenya Iida! From Somei Private Academy!" He shouted. He was almost as tall as me. I felt like that made him nervous. I made a face and took his hand, "I'm Haruto Arashi." Wait a second. I snapped my fingers, "You're an Iida! Your whole family is famous for speed Quirks!"

"Oh," he said, "Yes, I suppose so." I shrugged. e. "Hey, do you know who our teacher is?" I asked suddenly. Iida planted his hands on his hips, "The listing said 'Aizawa,' but I don't recognize that name. All the teachers are Pros, so he's a Hero. That's all I can say." The door opened again, so I turned to see who it was. "Uraraka!" I squealed. She turned pink as I started babbling about how excited I was. She and I had both made bracelets with the ribbons, too! So cute! Then the door swung open. Guess who it was.

"Sparkles."

"Feathers."

Bakugo- that's what Nezu said his name was, right?- stomped to a desk, plopped down, and flung his feet on the tabletop. Iida went ballistic as other students began flooding in. I quickly found my people. Uraraka introduced me to a bunch of other girls she'd met at the tryouts. Tsuyu Asui. Frog-like. Mina Ashido. Pink. Kyoka Jiro. Metal. Toro Hagakure. Invisible. "Hey, Haruto!" I turned to find Momo Yaoyorozu, another recommended student, grinning at me. "Momo! We're in the same class!"

I heard some kind of sniffling behind me. I turned slowly to see a short, chubby kid with really strange hair trying to look up my skirt. "Dude!" I shouted, backing up and pulling my skirt lower over my knees. Now, I was somewhat… _gifted _in the hips and chest department, but not enough to warrant _that. _"The hell is wrong with you?!" Momo rested her hand on my shoulder, "That's Minoru Mineta. He's a pervert." I nodded, "I gathered that." I nudged him away with my wing.

The room _literally_ turned cold as a boy wandered in. I recognized him. Shoto Todoroki, also a recommendation. "Hey, ice cube!" I shouted, "We're in the same class!" He scowled. The room got subtly colder. I radiated warmth to offset the cold. "Fight me," I said to his surprised eyebrow raise. The girls of the class huddled around, sighing at my warmth. It actually made me a little uncomfortable. I didn't really know how to act around other girls.

I had six little brothers. What do you expect?

We all managed to find our seats. I was next to a boy with strange arms and dagger-sharp hair and a boy with shiny blonde hair and a weird belt. The chairs weren't really wing-friendly. I'd rested the joints over the top and stretched the tips around to rest on the floor. The boy I'd met the day of the entrance exam, (Midoriya, I think?) pushed open the door. Uraraka leapt out of her seat and bounced over. Midoriya turned very pink and responded hastily. I leveraged myself out of my chair and joined her. "Hey, I heard about you!" I said with a smile, "The boy who passed on rescue points alone! Nice!"

A gravelly voice from behind said softly, "If you want to play at being friends, go somewhere else."

We flinched and whipped around to find some kind of yellow, lumpy tube behind us. A face emerged and sucked at a juice pouch. _What. In. The. Actual. Hell? _It stood up and a man stepped out of it, dressed completely in black, with stringy black hair and bloodshot eyes. "It took a whole eight seconds for you kids to be quiet. You aren't very rational." I scowled. He looked me briefly up and down before nudging past into the classroom. "I'm Shota Aizawa. Your homeroom teacher." Shocked murmurs drifted around the room. "I know this is sudden," he said, pulling some kind of uniform from the folds of his clothing, "But put these on and head out to the field."

Okay, what?

"Mr. Aizawa," I said, watching as the other students grabbed their gym uniforms and filed out. He huffed, "What?" I shrugged, "I can't wear one of those because of my wings." He rolled his eyes and sighed, "I _know_, Arashi. I have a special one for you right here." He chucked it at me, watching my back as I slung it over my shoulder and walked out.

"There's going to be a Quirk assessment test," he said, as we filtered onto the field, all dressed up. Uraraka shrieked, "But what about Orientation?! What about the entrance ceremony?!" Aizawa rolled his eyes and turned his back to us, "If you're going to be a Hero, you don't have time for things like that." I crossed my arms. He looked back over his shoulder and clearly noted that. The other students were taken aback. "You've been doing these since junior high school, right?" He held up a small screen with someone's results from one such test. "Fitness tests where you weren't allowed to use your Quirks."

I'd never been good at those. Running, core exercises, and jumping: an extra 15 kilos of wings to drag with me. Swimming: dress-code-friendly swimsuits and feathers don't mix. I couldn't even _do_ sit-ups.

"Bakugo," he said, pointing with a thin finger, "You finished top of the entrance exams, right?" Aizawa told him to throw a softball using his Quirk. An intense shock wave buffeted us as one of his explosions launched the ball into the sky. "Damn," I murmured to Momo. She grunted in agreement. Bakugo blasted the ball seven. Fricking. Hundred. Meters. My low whistle drifted on the breeze as Aizawa started talking again. I clapped Bakugo on the back as he returned to the group. "Damn, sparkles," I laughed, "You pack a hell of a lot of bang for your buck!" Aizawa cleared his throat. I looked up and refolded my arms, meeting his gaze coolly. Obviously, I wasn't his favorite. "Anyone to come last in all eight tests will be punished with expulsion." That brought my thoughts to a jarring halt. I gaped at him. _Expulsion?! _Honestly, he was probably lying. Technically, he didn't have the authority to openly expel any students without major disciplinary issues.

"Welcome to UA's Hero course!"

I planted my hands on my hips and grinned. This was going to be fun. The first test was a 50 meter dash. Iida, obviously, was in his element. I raced with Uraraka. She used her Quirk on her clothes and shoes to lighten them up a touch. I blasted myself forward with wind and pinned my wings to my sides, zooming across the finish line and skidding to a stop. 3.98 seconds. Leaps and bounds above my 15 second junior high time. The boy I sat next to earlier, the blonde one, shot a laser out of his belt and lurched backward. About halfway down the track, he dropped it and had to fire again. He looked over his shoulder at Uraraka, a red-haired boy (he would be Kirishima), and I. "If I shoot for more than a second, my tummy hurts." Weirdo. Note: his name was Aoyama.

The second test was grip strength. Mine was better than most of the rest of the class, because I'd learned to be able to lift my entire body weight- plus my wings. Still, the other boy I sat next to, Shoji, nearly crushed the measuring device.

The third test was right up my alley. Standing long jump. I just jumped up and flew over the landing area, then circled until Aizawa told me to come down.

The fourth was back and forth jumping. That one I had a little more trouble with. Mineta, however, made cushions with those weird hair-ball-things of his and bounced between them.

The fifth was the ball throw. Uraraka went first. She gently tapped the ball. I wobbled into the air and out of sight. Aizawa raised his eyebrows and showed the class her score. _Infinity?!_ How could I go after that? I did anyway, using careful manipulation of wind to force the ball a staggering 1500 meters. I was very proud of myself. Midoriya looked thoroughly terrified as he stepped up to the plate. I saw him fire up some kind of Quirk, but his throw was… pathetic. He shook and looked down at his hands. Uraraka pressed closer, hiding in between my shoulder and my wing. I glanced back at her before looking to Aizawa.

His grey scarf- or what I'd thought was a scarf- drifted around him in some invisible breeze, and his hair moved like matted black fire. Wait, hold on. _Aizawa…_ I recognized that name. But from where?

Eraser Head! He could temporarily disable people's Quirks by staring at them. He _was_ a Pro, but he hated media attention because he was a stealth fighter. Had he used his Quirk on Midoriya? "That's messed up," I muttered. I felt Uraraka nod. Eraser Head used his… tapes, I guess? to pull Midoriya close. He said something quiet and fast that the rest of us couldn't hear. "I wonder what he said," I mused as Midoriya was released. Aoyama slid close on my other side, mimicking Uraraka, "Probably telling him he was expelled." I zapped him with a quick spark of lightning. Let's just say he didn't get within a meter of me after that.

We watched with bated breath as Midoriya reared back for the throw. We all expected a broken arm. Everyone knew that- whatever Midoriya's Quirk was- was incredibly self-damaging. To everyone's utter shock, Midoriya put out a shockwave stronger than Bakugo's earlier. My jaw effectively hit the ground. Midoriya stood with a big, teary grin on his face, panting. He'd used only a tiny portion of his big Quirk, centered in his fingertip. Aizawa flashed the score. The exact same numbers as… Bakugo?! Damn, this guy was cool. "Shit," I said breathlessly. Suddenly, an enraged Bakugo charged at Midoriya, explosions already popping in his hands. Aizawa quickly cut him off with those weird tape things and his Quirk.

I was surprised Bakugo thought he could get away with it.

As Uraraka fawned over Midoriya's injured finger, I moved over to Bakugo, who was practically simmering with rage. "Hey," I said softly, nudging his shoulder with my wing, "That was pretty badass of you. Dumb, but badass." To my surprise, he barked a laugh. Then he scowled and clenched his fists, "Until a little while ago, _he_ was just a pebble on the side of the road." He glared over his shoulder at Midoriya, "A PEBBLE!" I folded my arms, "That was intense. I give you credit for that. Come on, sparkles. The next test is starting." I grabbed his arm and started to drag him to the class, but he jerked away. "Don't blow your top, sparkles," I snorted. I laughed and jogged away as a slur of curses that would make a villain blush fell out of his mouth.

The next three tests went pretty well. I was exempted from the sit-up test (Duh, wings). I did pretty well on the toe-touch and the long distance run. I was a little tired, but nothing major. Midoriya ended up on the ground. I offered him a hand and lugged him to his feet, "C'mon, hotshot. You've done real well today." He smiled weakly and followed me to Aizawa, who was releasing the test scores.

Whoo! Second place!

As I was prone to, I made it snow a little over the class. I earned some glares, but Tsuyu caught a few flakes on her tongue, making Uraraka giggle, and making me snort. I followed the list down. Oh no. Midoriya came in last. I rested a hand on his shoulder as they slumped. "By the way," Aizawa muttered,

"I was lying about the expulsion."

Woah. "It was a rational deception." _I knew it_! Momo had come to the same conclusion, so I stood next to her and cocked my hip. Aizawa left, handing Midoriya a nurse's note on his way. "Well, that was fun," I said to the ensuing silence. A guy who could shoot tape out of his elbows laughed (his name was Sero). Others joined in, laughing and talking.

On my way home, I spotted Iida, Midoriya, and Uraraka heading to the station. I called down as I flew over. Uraraka waved happily, Iida saluted, and Midoriya smiled kind of strangely.

My family was _elated _to see me, and my brothers had endless questions, but I was pretty worn out, so I basically showered, had dinner, and passed out in my bed.

The next morning, I left before any of my family was awake. My papa had forgotten to turn the coffee pot on, so I did that, the smooth humming of the little machine my fanfare as I left for school. I'd designed a wing-friendly backpack that had special buckles on the straps so I could attach it to my wing joints. It was sleek, comfortable, and even had reflective stickers on it. (Also, it was sparkly and silver, which made it awesome anyway)

First thing in the morning, Pro Hero Present Mic gave us an English lesson. It was easy for me. English was my second language, so it was a little accented, but more or less accurate. Finally, lunch came. Pro Hero Lunch Rush made the most amazing food ever! And it was reasonably priced, so even someone (like me) from a financially-challenged family could eat like a king (or in my case, a queen). I sat with Iida, Midoriya and Uraraka, a plate of steaming stir fry and rice sitting in front of me. Ohmygosh it was amazing! You could taste every spice and herb and flavor! I was munching happily away when I noticed Bakugo sitting alone. The tables around him were stuffed to overfull. Poor guy.

"I think I'm gonna go sit with Bakugo," I mumbled. Midoriya choked on a bite of rice. A hard slap on the back from Iida solved that problem. "Why?" Midoriya gagged. "I mean, look at him," I whined, gesturing to his table with my fork, "That's so sad." When Bakugo looked up, he looked anything but angry. Kind of neutral, but kind of lonely. I stood up with a "That's it!" and marched my way over to his table with my plate. I plopped down, "Wassup, sparkles?" He growled, "What do you want?" I kicked him under the table, "Your company, dumbass. Seems like you needed mine, too." The red-haired boy, Kirishima, wandered over, too. I grinned at him, waving him over. He swung into a chair. I snorted at Bakugo's angry noises, then nudged him with my elbow, "Aren't you glad that you have some friends who aren't terrified of you?" He grunted, but I could've sworn a smile flickered across his face.

After that… the moment you've all been waiting for… _HERO BASIC TRAINING with Symbol of Peace and Pro Hero ALL MIGHT!_ I was sooooooo excited! The whole class buzzed as he marched through the door. "That's a silver age uniform! It's giving me chills!" I whispered. Aoyama _actually_ simpered.

Our first task was… drumroll, please… Combat training! With new costumes! Mine was a sleek black bodysuit with plates of paper-thin golden armor on my torso and wings. The boots and gloves had stylized metal lightning bolts blazing up them, perfect for conducting actual lightning. A wreath of the same gold lightning went on my head. I had a black cloth eye mask, too.

The girls looked _adorable!_ Everyone else's was so cute! I should have gone for something cuter! Momo must've noticed me pouting, because she wandered over and said, "Don't worry, mine isn't super cute, either. Really functional, though." I made a whiny noise, but nodded in agreement. Then, out came the boys. They looked great, too! Iida had some kind of suit of armor, Kirishima wasn't wearing a shirt (but had sleeves… confusing), and Bakugo had large canister things on his gauntlets. I poked at one, "What're these for?" He sighed, "My sweat is like nitroglycerin. They store it so I can make bigger explosions." I grinned, "Sweet!" He grinned back.

A huge model city awaited us. "Hey, wait!" I shouted, "This is the test city!" Uraraka squeaked a little, "I don't have good memories of this place." I laid my hand on her shoulder and shot her a reassuring smile.

All Might towered over the class, "Time for an indoor battle simulator!" I consciously felt the class's eyes turn to me. Crap. Indoor… anything was a challenge, because of my wings. I could barely fit through doors with my wings squeezed tight to my back, much less _fight_ in hallways. We drew lots to pick two teams: heroes and villains. I was with Hagakure! I high-fived her, "Let's do this!" She squealed, her gloved hands high above her head. Technically, she was naked except for her gloves. It didn't really bother me. In this jumpsuit, I might as well have been naked myself. Let's just say it left nothing to the imagination. I'm sure Mineta was just _loving_ all of the jumpsuits and exposed skin. A chill raced up my spine as a grubby little hand brushed my wing. Mineta jerked and screeched as I zapped him with lightning.

The first teams against each other were: Uraraka and Midoriya as the heroes, and Bakugo and… _Iida?!_ as the villains. Iida looked absolutely _thrilled_ by the concept. I was pretty sure his older brother was a Pro, too. Yeesh, this was probably going to be hard for him.

That theory was quickly disproved. As the rest of the class and All Might filed into a viewing room, I heard cackles coming from the speakers. Iida reared his head back and laughed maniacally, showing up on a series of small screens around the room. All Might chuckled, "Pay attention, kids. Think about what you would do." We grunted happily, squishing forward to get the best view. I shoved Mineta forward. He looked back, surprised. "I'm like four heads taller than you, Mineta. Get over it." He smiled as I began pushing Todoroki. Todoroki looked up slightly and moved behind Mineta, sending me a small nod as thanks.

We all waited anxiously for the first attack to happen. Lo and behold, Bakugo was the first to strike. He easily blew back Midoriya and Uraraka. The room caught its breath. Then it was effectively gone as Midoriya flung Bakugo over his head and slammed him into the ground. I winced. Midoriya had also snagged one of those neat gauntlets. Oh geez. I knew where this was going. I bit my lip as Midoriya let loose a huge explosion on Bakugo. As the heroes' timer slowly ticked down, I found myself biting my nails. This was going to be a close one. Uraraka and Iida faced off near the bomb while Midoriya and Bakugo were busy blowing each other up. Finally, Uraraka wrapped her arms around the villains' bomb, and the timer clicked to zero. The viewing room lit up with cheers and laughter. Midoriya was all broken up, though. That kind of sucked. He was quickly carted away to the nurse's office.

HAhahahahahHAHAHahah! Hagakure and I were the villains! I was already rubbing my hands together suspiciously and chuckling under my breath as Hagakure slid off her gloves and shoes. Our bomb was in an open corridor. Wide enough for my wings, even. Shoji- the guy with the dupli-arms- and Todoroki were the heroes. Todoroki's dad was the number two Pro, Endeavor. I actually wondered where he got his ice Quirk from. Mom, maybe? I knew Shoji was going to be scouting like hell, and Todoroki would freeze anything he saw, so Hagakure and I agreed on a battle plan. I set up a few inconvenient traps while she scouted. "Let's try and stay on the offense," I murmured into my radio, "They'll expect a defensive plan. Radio silence… now!" I heard her padding away. With any luck, she'd lead the heroes into my traps.

Suddenly, a wave of ice washed across the building. "Ow, ow, ow!" Hagakure whimpered, "My feet are stuck!" I radiated heat as hot as I could go to prevent ice from touching the bomb. "Asshole," I cursed, "He thought he could screw with the temperature, huh?" I grinned, pulling snow clouds over the sun, "Let's see how he likes frostbite." Todoroki's body temperature was really easily pushed too cold. I was relying on that. I heard a soft clinking. Footsteps. Lightning spread over my body, twisting around my hands in long, dangerous whips. Todoroki marched in, eyebrows shooting into his hairline. "Thought it'd be that easy, huh, ice cube. Temperature is my area of expertise," I grinned and tilted my head, my eyes widening crazily, "Also, wanna know what a billion volts feels like?" His eye widened as the metal plate he was standing on lit up with electricity.

He jumped off and slammed into the linoleum floor, scowling at me. I zapped him anyway, wincing as he flinched and froze. "I can do ice, too, ice cube," I chirped. A freezing wind burst through a window and wrapped around his still form, solidifying as it touched his freezing body. One second, I was grinning down at him. The next, I was wrapping white capture tape around his wrists. His timer beeped to zero. "Villains win!" All Might's voice boomed. I offered him a hand up. He took it. Damn his hand was cold. He scowled at me again as he walked out.

The rest of the matches went smoothly, but I noticed that a few of the boys I wasn't familiar with didn't get as close as they had before. Great. Now I was scaring people.

It felt great to be back in real clothes. I was wet and cold in my jumpsuit, and I welcomed the clean fabric of my uniform. Once everyone was dressed, we gathered in the classroom and waited for Midoriya to come back from the nurse's office. I met a fellow bird-form named Tokoyami. He grumbled for a minute about how I got the lion's share of cool bird features. He had really deep black feathers for hair and a wicked sharp beak. He was, at the time, sitting on a desk. Iida, of course, went all 'don't be disrespectful to the school' on him. Jiro scoffed at him. "Dude, take it easy," I mumbled, "Do you ever relax?" He decided to take offense to that. Bakugo stomped out. I shouted angrily after him. No dice. Uraraka and Kaminari came in with the yearbooks the same time Midoriya did. The class clustered around him, complimenting him and introducing themselves. I shot him a thumbs-up as he responded, flustered.

He ran out after Bakugo. I trailed a few other girls to a window to watch the confrontation go down. For some reason, Bakugo and Midoriya didn't get along. I really couldn't see why. Midoriya was a little geeky, but was a pretty sweet guy. And Bakugo was intense, but really passionate. They both were. I grinned at the girls, "I wonder if they ever really _liked_ each other." Uraraka frowned, "They were friends once, I guess." I gasped, "I totally ship it!" I laughed obnoxiously at my classmates gawks.

Then I flew home, greeted by a stack of hand-drawn pictures from my brothers. They were already in bed, but I snuck into their rooms (one for each set of twins) and smooched their adorable sleeping heads. With Eiichi and Eito, I had to dodge some drool. My parents were also in bed, and I stopped by to let them know I was home. My mom groggily wrapped her arms around me and mumbled something incoherent before flopping back down and passing out. My dad grumbled and waved me out. I held in a snort. Tomorrow would be another day, so I needed my beauty sleep.

After all, the early Thunderbird gets the worm.

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**Wow, this felt great to write! From now on, I'll be posting every Monday at around this time if I can!**


	3. Chapter 3

My flights to school had been increasingly crowded. News helicopters struggled to keep up with me as I soared over the city. One had almost shredded me to ribbons with its blades.

As you can probably guess, I've taken to walking to school.

Every day, the UA gate was swarming with journalists, begging to speak to All Might. It was really getting to be a challenge to avoid them. One day, it dawned on me that if I was going to be a Pro, I'd have to deal with these guys all the time. The thought made my inner Aizawa curl into an introverted ball. Iida, however, was happy to bore the news people to death while the rest of us slipped in. A few steps into the courtyard, the security walls shot up. I whipped around to see Aizawa stalking past. "Mr. Aizawa?" I asked, "What are those for?" He sighed, "You should _know_ this, Arashi. If someone tries to enter UA without identification, the security system keeps them out."

I smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, sir!"

As I wandered into the halls, a cold wind washed over my shoulders. I turned to see Todoroki scowling at me. "Wassup, ice cube?" If possible, he scowled more, "How did you beat me?" Well, actually, it wasn't really a question. More like an _I'm going to freeze your brains solid if you don't spill it_ kind of statement. "Well, since your body gets really cold when you use your power, I used a freezing wind carrying water droplets to use that to my advantage." He waited, obviously wanting me to continue. "And, since I can control the weather, temperature is easy to manipulate." For a little bit of emphasis, I made the room a few degrees colder, letting frost patterns slither across the floor. Todoroki looked around for a moment, "Good job."

That gave me pause. "Good job?" He shrugged- the most natural thing I'd ever seen him do, "Not many people can incapacitate me like that. Good job." I nudged him with my wing, "Want some advice?" The scowl returned. "Pay attention to your opponent. Gather information before you strike." He nodded slowly. "Also, stop pretending to be a jerk. It really doesn't suit you." Todoroki started, eyes widened in surprise. I flashed him a grin and marched off to class.

In homeroom, Aizawa was back in that yellow sleeping bag of his. "Today, class…" Oh, geez. Not another test! "...You will be choosing a class representative." PHEW! Everyone was getting excited and throwing in their names, but I squished back in my chair. "Hey, Haruto," Mina said loudly, "Don't you want to be class rep?" I cringed and pressed farther back in my chair, "Not really." She gasped. "You see, I'm not great with other people my age." She tapped her chin with a finger. I groaned, "I have six little brothers." The class kind of froze and looked at me, a murmur of "Six?!" passing through the room. I shrugged and crossed my arms, "And besides, if _I_ was in charge, there would be some _major_ changes to the dress code."

A beat of silence and confusion later, I clarified, "Do you know how many blouses I've ruined trying to fit one of these suckers over my wings?" There was a nod from another mutation- named Koda- who was tall and broad with tree-bark-like skin, and from a huge, muscular guy named Sato. Both of whose shirts were just slightly too small. After a speech from Iida about democracy and whatnot, the voting results were revealed. Momo had made deputy rep… Midoriya was the rep?! I practically knocked them over as I bounced around.

During lunch, an alarm blared through the cafeteria. Kaminari- a fellow electric type- and Mina had joined the table I'd forced Bakugo and Kirishima into, and we all looked up. People dropped their yakitori as a voice blared over the loudspeakers, "LEVEL THREE SECURITY BREACH." Let's just say that all went to hell after that. Tables were overturned as every student in the caf made a mad dash for the doors. Someone caught my wings and yanked me into the crowd. I _hated_ close spaces. Sweat ran in a trickle down my back as I was muscled into the hall. A few girls were screaming or crying, and all of the boys were shouting bloody murder.

I couldn't think.

I couldn't breathe.

My Quirk activated subconsciously, a bubble of wind forming around me and shoving everyone to the walls. When it popped, I had a good two meters of extra space. I took a moment to stretch my wings and scowl at the now still mob. "How the hell are y'all going to be Heroes if you can't learn to be calm?" I snapped. A few people winced. "Stop whining like a buncha damn babies and act your age." Anger rolled off me in waves.

Turns out, it had just been the news guys from earlier. This stupid crowd had all been for nothing. I was a touch late back to class, as Nezu had stopped me and politely scolded me for my use of vulgarity in addressing my fellow students. When I walked in, Midoriya was at the front of the class, beet-red and on the verge of tears. Momo looked very concerned. The rest of the class looked dumbfounded. Iida was pale as a sheet of paper. "Why the hell is everyone white as a ghost?" I asked unceremoniously. Iida babbled, "Midoriya wants me to be the class rep instead of him." I snorted as I sat down, "At least it's entertaining."

"Today," Aizawa piped up. We snapped to attention. "Hero basic training will be turned into a class with three instructors. All Might, myself, and one other." He held up a card that read "RESCUE." I grinned, "Sweet! My dad's a rescue sidekick!" Aizawa looked up, "Yes. I know your father, Arashi. He's a good man." I smiled. Maybe there was more to Aizawa than I thought. "You'll be training with shipwrecks, disasters, and everything in between," he finished.

"So, we're heading to a new facility for training," Aizawa sighed, "You have fifteen minutes to be on the bus." There was a loud, crazy scramble for the door as the class made for the costume storage. I paused to talk to Aizawa, "Uh, Mr. Aizawa?" He rolled his eyes. "I can't… um… fit on a bus." I gestured to my wings. He huffed, "Can you fly?" I nodded. With another huff, he gestured for me to leave.

I put on my costume again, with a few new upgrades. A pair of clear goggles in the mask and a communicator in my ear.

I actually beat the bus to the huge white dome and set down right as they pulled into the lot. Bakugo stomped off the bus with enough force to bounce the other students backward. I ran forward and forcefully linked my arm with his. He scowled, but didn't shove me off, so I dragged him to the front of the crowd. Thirteen, the Space Hero, stood with his arms wide, "I can't wait to show you what's inside!" The class as a whole murmured, "This is gonna be awesome!"

"Hey," I muttered, "Where's All Might?" Bakugo shrugged, and Kirishima piped up, "I heard that he didn't come to school today." I drooped dramatically, "That sucks." Bakugo snorted.

We filed in after Thirteen. I could've sworn Uraraka was shaking with excitement. My jaw effectively hit the floor as I saw them. Huge disaster simulators: firestorm, blizzard, sinking ship, and so many other life-size training exercises. "Holy crap!" Bakugo snapped. "I created this facility to provide a comprehensive training experience to all you students! I call it the Unforeseen simulation joint. But you can call it USJ!" I whispered to Bakugo, "Like Universal Studios Japan!"

I got distracted looking around as Thirteen continued talking, until he said, "My Quirk could very easily be used to kill, as could some of yours." Bakugo went stiff. "In our superhuman society, all Quirks are registered and strictly regulated, so we often overlook how unsafe they can be. Please don't forget that if you lose focus or make the wrong move, your powers can be deadly." Thirteen took a bow and we all applauded uproariously.

Aizawa huffed, "Now that's over…" He began talking, but the lights suddenly cut out. A murmur rolled through the class as a warp gate opened at the bottom of the staircase leading to the training areas. Aizawa and Thirteen whipped around as black smoke poured from it. A skinny man with silver hair and like fifteen hands stalked out of the warp gate. "Stay together and don't move," Aizawa snapped. We took a collective step back. "Thirteen, protect the students!"

"It's a villain attack!" I hissed quietly. I pulled away from Bakugo and grabbed ahold of a passing rainstorm, just in case. Hordes of villains were clambering through the warp gate. Aizawa put his goggles on, and the other students realized what was happening. A hulking black monster with teeth as long as my forearm bumbled out to stand next to the silver-haired guy.

"Thirteen, why aren't the alarms going off?" Momo said, a tremor in her voice. "Good question. I'm not sure," Thirteen muttered. Todoroki said quietly, "Is the entire campus under attack?" Aizawa nodded, "Thirteen, get them out of here and alert the main campus." Thirteen grunted in response. "Kaminari, try to contact the main campus with your Quirk. If they're jamming our alarms, they might be jamming our regular communications as well." He immediately sent out an electric pulse. Midoriya shouted after Eraser Head, "Mr. Aizawa, you can't fight them on your own! Your Quirk is best for stealth and one-on-one fights. It's not gonna help with a group."

Aizawa smiled, "You can't be a Pro with only one trick. I'll leave it to you, Thirteen." He leapt off the stairs and used his tapes to swing himself toward the villains. He took down three villains easily. More villains went down hard as Aizawa carved his way toward the silver-haired guy- who was clearly in charge.

Thirteen turned to me, "Arashi, get into the air and hightail it to the main campus. Tell the faculty what's going on here!" I nodded and took off. "Ground the flyer!" the silver-haired man hissed. The black monster jumped like 30 meters into the air and smashed the skylight I was heading for before crashing into me. We fell hard. This guy was 300 kilos of pure muscle. As we tumbled through the air, he clamped his paws on my wings. I tried to wrench away, but this guy had some pretty intense grip strength. He pulled my wings hard. The joints immediately dislocated. I think I passed out before we hit the ground. Wait. It wasn't the ground? Ice slid under me, sliding me toward where the other students were. Horrifying, numb pain tore through my back and wings, but I stood up awkwardly. Todoroki slung my arm over his shoulders. I hissed a thanks. It took me a second to be able to stand up straight. Thirteen beckoned toward the door, and I ran through the pain.

"There is no escape for you!" the black smoke said, opening a warp gate in front of Thirteen. He immediately created a black hole with his Quirk and attempted to suck in all of the smoke. "Isn't this a fitting place for All Might to take his last breath?" The class roiled. They were here to kill All Might.

Bakugo and Kirishima lunged at the smoke dude, Quirks raring. An explosion, and smoke was everywhere. We coughed and hacked. "You should be more careful, children. Someone might get hurt," the smoke said, from all around. "You gave him cover!" I snapped.

Suddenly, the black smoke grabbed all of us, "Now I will scatter you across this facility to meet my comrades… and your deaths!" Fingers of smoke wrapped around my wings, my arms, and wrenched me away from Todoroki, dragging me toward one of the training spots.

When I blinked open my eyes, I was greeted by fire, and about twenty grunt-level villains. I was in the firestorm! Luckily for me, a firestorm was a weather phenomenon.

I was out in less than a minute, the villains in various states of burned-ness, tied up with some rope I found around the now extinguished fire zone.

A huge wave of electricity screwed with my rainstorm and basically spawned a lightning storm over the USJ. I had to walk to the Mountain Zone, following Kaminari's signature blast. I was able to flutter a little bit, but not soar like I used to. With a thump, I landed behind Momo and Jiro. They turned weapons on me, but I threw up my hands, "Haruto!" We exchanged nods and I saw Kaminari wandering around. "Is he a moron?" Momo nodded, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Speaking of, how did you escape the blast?" Momo started to tell me, but Jiro said quietly, "Look."

A raging electrical storm pelted the USJ. I flexed my wings, "It's because I'm here. Kaminari's electricity aggravates mine." I shook my hair, tiny arcs of lightning sparking through the strands. "Put your hands up," a gravelly voice snapped. We whipped around to an armored villain holding Kaminari by the back of his neck, "And no Quirks, got it? Or I'll fry your friend here."

"Kaminari's helpless," Momo hissed. "Damn villain," Jiro echoed, "He totally caught us with our pants down." I said softly, "The blast should have gotten them all…" We slowly put our hands up. The villain lifted his hand, electricity sparking between his fingers, "I feel a brotherhood with other electric types. I don't want to kill him, but I will. You can save his life, or your own." His hand got closer to Kaminari's head. Kaminari's eyes widened in fear.

"Now, what's it gonna be, girlies?" I dropped my hands, "Wait." He stopped dead, "What?" I swaggered forward, feigning confidence, "You see this storm? It's mine." He glanced up at the storm that'd slowly been intensifying. I had to bluff. His artificial electricity hated my natural electricity. I couldn't electrocute him, but he could electrocute me. "You said you feel a brotherhood with other electric types? Well, sweetheart, I'm your big sister." He growled and brought his hand away from Kaminari, "What does that mean?" I sighed sarcastically, then spoke slowly and loudly, like I was talking down to him, "_I. Can. Electrocute. You!_" He rolled his eyes. "I know I can take the energy of a lightning strike, but can you? I know my friends behind me can react fast enough, but can you?"

A bolt crashed through the glass dome and struck my outstretched hand. I felt giddy with energy, but I had to keep it down. Instead, I put on a show: making my eyes glow white and rolling the leftover electricity over my fingers. "You see, Kaminari, there, is a battery. I can charge him, but you're an e.m.p.-er, right? You would be fried. I suggest you let go of him." The villain thought about this. With a huff, he shoved Kaminari forward. He stumbled into the waiting hands of Momo and Jiro. I moved to restrain the villain, but the second I touched him, he lashed out against me with the extent of his power. I was thrown away from him, into the stone wall behind Momo and Jiro. My wings thumped against the rock. One of them actually popped back into place. I snarled, "You'll pay for that!" I lunged forward, but bullets beat me to him. "It's Snipe!" I whooped, pumping my fist into the air. Pros had arrived, easily decimating the opposing force.

All Might had arrived and slammed the monster into the sky. The silver-haired dude had gotten away with the smoke guy. Recovery Girl, a healing Pro, came around to all the injured students. She tilted her head sweetly, "I'm so sorry, Miss Arashi, but I'm not sure I'm aware of your physiology enough to fix this. I'll call your father." Before I could protest, she pulled a gravely outdated cell phone from the pocket of her lab coat and pressed a button. I moaned as she waddled away.

A few minutes later, a shape appeared in the sky. Papa set down gently, nodding to Recovery Girl as he walked by. My dad was taller than me by at least half a head, and twice as broad. His wings gleamed white in the setting sunlight. His costume, a white bodysuit with light blue waves on the gloves, chest, and boots, was what I had modeled my own after. He did _not_ look amused.

For a little context, I am essentially the spitting image of my father- spare for my wings and the fact that I am female. The same glossy black hair. The same warm brown eyes. The same hot temper. The same affinity for the word "damn."

"Hi, Papa," I muttered as he marched over. "Haruto," he practically growled, "Why you gotta be so damn weak?" I snapped back, "It's not _my_ fault that a 300-kilo monster practically ripped my wings off!" He huffed, resting his dinner-plate-sized hands on my wing. "Don't bite your tongue," he said. Then he jerked so hard that the joint snapped back into place. A string of curses fell out of my mouth. Papa knocked his knuckle on top of my head, "Don't use that language at school, kid." I rolled my eyes, but shut my mouth. Papa nodded and patted my shoulder before making his way inside the USJ.

Police had arrived, their vans and buses clogging the front of the USJ. An officer counted the class out. "Eighteen. Nineteen. Looks like everyone's unharmed except for that boy who had his legs all messed up," he said with a smile. A hand landed on my shoulder. I turned to see… well, not really… Hagakure, "Hey, Haruto! You're really strong! I didn't know you could use fire!" I shrugged her hand off, "I didn't, really. It was already there, and I was able to use my powers to manipulate it. So, where did you end up?" She squeaked, "The landslide zone! You wouldn't believe Todoroki! He's amazing!" I jumped a bit, "Jeez, I'm glad he didn't freeze you solid!" She giggled and moved away.

"Hey, where's Mr. Aizawa?" I asked over Todoroki's shoulder. I was met by several surprised faces. Kirishima frowned, "You didn't hear?" I shook my head, "Nope." Kaminari picked up, "He got really badly hurt in his fight with Tomura Shigaraki." I must have looked perfectly clueless, because Momo popped in, "The man with the hands." I growled, "I'll kill that bastard." She looked more than a little annoyed, "Haruto, you can't kill people." I shrugged, "Whatever." I was seething at the guy. First, he had the balls to show up at a HIGH SCHOOL and attack fledgling Heroes. Then he had the gall to suggest killing All Might. And to tie it all off, he set his lapdog on me and practically ripped my wings off.

I followed an officer- who had the head of a tabby cat (super cute)- back to class. I didn't think I would be able to focus. Bakugo looked extra brood-y, so I shoved him a bit. He growled. "Don't be a jerk, Bakugo," I said softly, "It seems like everything's gonna be okay." Bakugo stomped off. "Bitch," I said after him. He shot a scowl over his shoulder before joining Kaminari and Kirishima.

After a long- and I mean long- hot shower, I bid my farewells to the girls and took off for home. Then I made my way downstairs and unlocked the door. I pressed my wings to the wall and sighed. Soooooo tired. I plunked my backpack on the floor and washed my hands. Then I went into my room and changed into a black tank-top and some khaki shorts. The door opened again, and I peeked out from the hallway to see my brothers hovering in the door jamb. "'Sup, kids?" I shouted. Sniffles. "Are you guys ok-" I exited into the den to see my brothers- whose faces were bruised- and a couple disgruntled policemen. "Any parents home?" One of them asked tiredly. I shook my head, "Mom's still at work. Dad's at UA High School." The other frowned, "I heard about the attack. But, back to the matters at hand…" He not-so-gently shoved Hades and Mienai forward, "These two were caught in a physical altercation at Nabu Middle School. The rest," he said, gesturing to my other brothers, "Soon arrived and joined in."

I straightened my wings and ran my hand through my hair, "Thanks, officers. Anything else I should know?" The first officer spoke, "The course of events. These boys," Hades and Mienai, "Were using their Quirks in public in an unsafe manner." Hades snapped, "I _sneezed_! Is that a crime?!" I silenced him with a glare. "Other students of the school initiated conflict. The fight could have been stopped if not for the others joining in with their Quirks," he finished. "I've got them, officers," I stated, "You can go now." They nodded and left, pulling the door shut behind them.

My brothers looked awful. Scrapes, bruises, ripped uniforms. And they were terrified. And rightly so. "What on earth were you thinking?" I finally snapped. Eito said softly, "One of the big boys hit Mienai with a stick. We made spikes at him. He cried some." Fat tears rolled down the little ones' faces. Taine shrugged, "Like we would let our brothers get bullied by some motherfu-" he jerked suddenly, "Uh, bad people." I sighed to cover a snort, "And you, what do you have to say for yourselves?" Hades shuffled his feet. Mienai hid behind his brother. "Who landed the first hit?"

They looked really stupefied. I repeated the question. Five fingers pointed directly at Tait. "You son of a bi- gun," I said proudly, "And the rest of you sent them home crying, huh?" Six heads of dead-leaf-ridden black hair bobbed in unison. "Dam- darn right you did. Showers. Now!" They ran off into the hall, climbing over each other and arguing.

When they were done and _clean_ (thank goodness), I sat them down on the couch and explained to them why they couldn't use their Quirks to fight with other boys. Then I congratulated them for holding their own. Eiichi and Eito eventually wriggled their way into my lap. Taine and Tait were squished in my wings. Hades and Mienai were fine on the sides. They were warm and happy, so the little ones fell asleep, their tiny snores making my heart swell up like a balloon. The sun dipped below the horizon, casting a golden glow through our sheer curtains. I gently deposited my brothers and whipped up some ramen for dinner. After coralling them all into the bathroom to brush their teeth, we watched one of the old American cartoons Mom had shown us. Then I tucked them all in with a smooch.

When my mom got home, her golden-brown ponytail bobbing with her steps, she found me passed out on the couch with my phone dangling limply from my hand. She smiled and woke me up, guiding me to my room and directing me into my pajamas. I, of course, have no recollection of this, as I was practically a zombie at the time, but she told me later. Then I went into bed myself.

So very tired.

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**This one is a touch longer- sorry! Please let me know what you think of the story, predictions, anything you can think of. I'd really appreciate it!**


	4. Chapter 4

School was closed the day after the attack on the USJ. Even my brothers' schools were shut down, and they stayed home with me. My parents still had to work; and my dad was back in the Hero business for a while.

I helped Taine and Tait with a stupid amount of homework, which their teacher had assigned yesterday. Hades and Mienai were playing chess game after chess game, almost always ending in a draw. Eichi and Eiito were napping most of the day. Once or twice, I tried to join my brothers at chess, but they completely destroyed me. And they weren't going to let that go. The entire rest of the day, they made snarky comments about my chess ability, even going so far as to poke at my intelligence.

I whipped out my calculus homework to shut them up.

Then Mom got home, her golden waves cascading over her shoulders. She crammed a granola bar in her mouth as she kicked the door closed. "Hey, Mom," my brothers and I said collectively. She paused, halfway through slipping off her high heels. Mom swallowed her granola and said with a laugh, "You all might as well have a hive mind! It's kind of creepy." I set down my pencil and stood up from the kitchen table, which was strewn with my brothers' homework, "You and Aunt Kora do the same thing," I pointed out. Our mom had a twin sister, who lived in America- the Hero capital of the world! We'd visited her and our cousins once or twice in Chicago.

Mom smiled, her eyes crinkling. She had blue eyes. As clear as the sky. Taine and Tait did, too. They were kind of unnerving paired with Papa's coloring. In my left eye, I had a little squiggle of blue. I liked to think it looked like a lightning bolt. "Well," she said, looking for words, "You know I'm not the best at Japanese, but the best words I can find for it are: it's a twin thing." My brothers nodded, each pair at the same time. "Twin telepathy," I deadpanned in English. Six heads swiveled in my direction. "Now you're just being creepy on purpose," I snapped, back to Japanese.

Mom laughed and disappeared into her office.

The next day, we were all back at school. Everyone in 1-A was buzzing about the fact that we'd been featured on the news. Well, the attack had, anyway. Hagakure was whining that she couldn't be seen in the shot of the class. "You're invisible, honey. It's pretty hard to see a floating pair of gloves," I pointed out. She whined and flopped back in her chair. At least, I _think_ she did. I sat down as Iida raced (pun intended) in. He stuck his hand in the air, "Sit down! Class starts in five minutes!" I snorted as someone snapped, "You're the only one standing up." He turned beet red and stomped to his chair. "Don't sweat it, man," I said over my shoulder, "You were doing your best." His head landed with a bang on his desk as Aizawa moped in, wrapped like a mummy in bandages. "He's up!" I said under my breath. Murmurs of surprise and shock drifted around the room.

Aizawa's bloodshot eyes peeped out through the bandages on his face, "My pain isn't important." I frowned at that. "The most important thing is that your fight isn't over yet." My feathers prickled. Not more fighting! "The UA sports festival is about to start." I let my breath out in a windy gust, ruffling Aizawa's hair, "That's a hell of a relief!" I heard Kirishima shout, "Yes!" behind me. Mina squeaked, "Why would you scare us like that?!" Kirishima continued his mini-celebration until Kaminari planted a hand on his face, "Hang on." Jiro picked up his train of thought (Minorly interesting. They'd been doing that a lot lately.), "Yeah, why would they hold the festival so soon after the attack on the USJ?"

I turned in my chair to meet her gaze, "I catch your drift. Couldn't they attack pretty efficiently with all of us in one place?" Aizawa tilted his bandaged head, "This is the faculty's way of showing that the threat has been neutralized and our school is safer than ever. This event is a huge opportunity for all students of UA. It's not something we can cancel." I heard Mineta sniveling in the corner. He would probably have a tough time going against some of the tanks (myself included) with wicked powerful Quirks. I ran through a quick assessment of his skills. Nope. Hopeless. I was actually kind of curious how he managed to pass the entrance test. No one really liked him, and his Quirk wasn't really up to snuff.

Momo snapped me out of my thoughts with, "This is where you get scouted." Apparently Mineta had no clue what the festival was for, either. "That means you better not slack off when you're training," Aizawa finished. My dad had gone to UA, once. He'd only gone to the Sidekick level, and he was satisfied with that. I'd always thought that he could do _more_, but if he was happy, I was happy.

At lunchtime, most of the class decided to remain in the classroom after Pro Hero Cementoss left after math. I'd plopped down on the desk next to Uraraka's, watching as she steeled her shoulders. "Let's go, guys! We'll win the sports festival!" she nearly growled. I made a face, "Geez, Ochaco. That was intense." Mina echoed with, "Yeah, usually you're so laid back!" She pumped her fist into the air, flexing her Quirk, "Everyone, I'm gonna do my best!" My clothes drifted upward as I whooped and mimicked her pose. Everyone else's hair was standing on end. "Whoops," she said, back to her bubbly self, "My bad!" She deactivated her Quirk and everything fell down limply.

I sat with my usual crowd, which now included Sero and Tokoyami. "I'm really happy for you, sparkles," I said around a mouthful of rice, "You've finally assembled quite a nice little clique for yourself." He growled and stabbed his food. I looked up and saw Momo and Todoroki wandering around. I grabbed them with some wind and blew them over, doing the same to two chairs. Bakugo scowled at Todoroki's startled expression, "Why'd you have to bring the half-'n'-half bastard and the 3-d printer?" Momo blushed, and I flicked a piece of beef at Bakugo's head, "Stop being a jerk, Bakugo. You have me, you have them. Enjoy it. Or it won't last." He snorted and went back to his food.

"So," I said with a sly smile, "Who's ready to kick some ass at the sports festival?" Everyone smiled. Even Todoroki's lips pulled up.

Back in class, the day flew by. On my way to open the door, I heard a weird shuffling outside. I yanked it open to find a crowd of like fifty students in other classes blocking the door. They roiled away as pissed, tall me stared them down. I heard my classmates mumbling, but Bakugo shoved past. A spark of lightning appeared at the corner of my eye, "You really intend to piss me off even more, sparkles?" He huffed, "They're just checking out the competition." I rolled my eyes and plowed my way into the crowd, "I'm not an idiot Baku-brain." I popped up a bit, "Ooh, I like that one." Bakugo made an angry noise as I snorted and moved past him.

I saw a tall (almost my height) purple-haired boy make his way to the front of the crowd. He looked like an asshole, so I avoided him. "Damn," I hissed as someone jabbed their pencil into my arm. I looked up with lightning eyes to a bland face framed by messy purple waves. "Um, _ow_," I said wrenching my arm away from his pencil. It had left a little mark. "My apologies, _Hero_." I planted my feet, "Hey, I recognize you- you're in the General Studies course, right?" I shook the lightning out of my hair, sticking out my hand, "Haruto Arashi, at your service." He stared at my hand, "I'm going to join the Hero course, and I'm going to make sure that you egotistical class 1-A students don't get a chance to become Pros," he deadpanned. I blinked and bristled, "You ought to watch how you use the word 'egotistical.' You seem pretty hypocritical to me. Nice meeting you, General!" I saluted and turned on my heel, stomping away. What an ass.

Until the festival, we trained like our lives depended on it. (Which, I guess they kind of did. If we lost our Hero course spot, that was the end of our Pro career.) I'd flown a ridiculous distance, and thoroughly swamped the UA training ground. Iida used the mud for training, straining through the ick. After that, I let a tropical sun out for break (and to dry up that mud). We spent a lot of time in the test city, demolishing anything in our path. I trained mostly with Kaminari, building up a resistance to non-natural electricity and recharging him anytime his moron version showed up.

I buckled to my knees as his strongest surge yet hit me, hissing a curse. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow. Staggering to my feet, I recycled his energy and blasted it back at him in a blaze of white lightning. He flinched as it hit him. I could swear I saw sanity leak back into his eyes. That was the last his body could handle though, and he flopped forward, snoring. I left his limp form for Jiro to collect and flew home.

My family was buzzing. All of them were at the kitchen table when I got home, loudly arguing about something. They froze as I dropped my backpack with an audible _thump_. "Haruto!" one of the little ones shrieked, "We're gonna record the whole festival so you can watch it when you get home tomorrow!" I muttered a flustered thanks. Then I saw what was on the table. A huge poster board that read in messy paint- "GO CLASS 1-A! KICK SOME ASS (this part was crossed out) BUTT!" I smacked my hands to my mouth, tears running down my face, "You guys…"

The next morning, we suited up in our gym uniforms and gathered in a waiting room. I propped my elbow on Todoroki's shoulder, "I bet you're excited," I commented, looking out of the corner of my eye to catch his reaction, "To freeze some ass." He glanced back, "Solid." I jammed my fist in the air with a "Hell yeah!" He shoved me off and stood in front of Midoriya, "In fact, it's clear I'm stronger than you." The class looked up. "I don't know how or why, but All Might is helping you here." Midoriya's hands trembled. I carefully edged myself between them, looking dead into Todoroki's eyes, "I'm not playing games anymore. Quit it, ice cube. We'll need allies." He sidestepped me and scary-faced Midoriya. I rolled my eyes and plopped into a chair next to Bakugo, mumbling about testosterone and idiocy.

When it was finally time to enter the stadium, we tightened our formation. I could hear the roar of the crowd from the waiting room as Present Mic announced us. As the sunlight hit our faces (perfectly angled thanks to yours truly), the cheering crescendoed. We marched majestically to the center of the field. The stands were packed with citizens and Pros. Fireworks exploded in the sky. Midoriya looked terrified. I nudged him with my wing, "Chin up, hotshot," I said under a grin, "You've got your gusto, and that's all you need." He managed a weak smile.

None other than Bakugo was forced to give the opening speech. I facepalmed as he said, "I'm going to win" to the world. I was really starting to feel like he needed some sense knocked into him. Maybe some snow. No, ice. Wait, got it: hail. And man, was I going to enjoy it.

The first challenge was an obstacle course. As long as we didn't leave the track, we were free to do whatever we wanted. Really? No, like seriously. They just told a flying Quirk-user that she could do whatever the hell she wanted as long as she stayed _over_ the track. The tall steel walls, however, made me rethink that statement. They were so very… hallway-like. As the lights blared on, the entire first year of UA surged forward in some kind of human wave. I was squished and shoved into the hall. "Damn you all!" I shouted, blasting upward with wind and soaring through the other side. A cold wind followed me out. Todoroki had shoved his way through with ice and was skating behind me. I flew faster, letting the sun out and combatting his ice.

Nice try, ice cube. But it was going to take more than that to catch up to me.

My flight pattern faltered as a giant metal fist took a swing at me. Damn. These must've been the testing robots from the other students' entrance exams! They were huge, easily two or three stories tall each. I slammed two out of the way with wind. Another was blown over by a wave of ice. I could see that Todoroki had frozen it while it was off-balance. He was purposefully trying to screw over the other students. Two could play at that game.

I distractedly conjured a tiny blizzard to follow Todoroki around. With any luck, he'd get too cold and have to pause and warm himself up. My wings were starting to get a little tired from being airborne for so long, but no way was I going to let ice cube show me up. For good measure, I set a lightning bolt on a third robot. As it toppled toward the other students, I genuinely felt bad. "Sorry, guys," I shouted back over the rush of the wind.

I heard loud, percussive booms as I soared ahead. Momo must have used her Quirk, Creation, to Create some kind of large-scale weapon. Smart. But not smart enough to pass me. I was fast and strong, and my Quirk gave me a huge advantage in this challenge. Especially the next obstacle, a huge canyon spiderwebbed by tightropes. I barely stifled a scoff as I breezed over it. Then I glanced down and saw Todoroki- personal blizzard still following him- icing his way through the canyon. Bakugo was blasting himself over it, not far behind. I jerked Bakugo to the side with a huge gale, which also messed with the other students. This was easier than I thought it would be.

The third obstacle might as well have been a joke. A minefield. Ha. Ha. I didn't even look down as I shot over it, but I decided to be a little devious. I called off my wind and made a small rainstorm above the dirt ground. Now the other contestants couldn't see where the mines were buried. That was actually pretty fun. To hear flashy explosions and startled screams behind me made me smile a bit. When the minefield was thoroughly swamped, I let the sun out to dry up the ground. Maybe a bit too far, but hey, I was under pressure. Any Pro Hero could be watching. I needed to get scouted if I wanted to be one.

I pulled into the stadium and set down, then loped across the finish line unceremoniously. Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugo rushed past, their slipstreams ruffling my hair and feathers. As they stood glaring daggers at each other, the crowd went insane. Midoriya started crying, grinning his face off to the crowd. I yelled and flung my arms around him, bouncing up and down. Then I wrapped Todoroki and Bakugo in my wings, squeezing them so they couldn't escape. Delicate snowflakes drifted down in the stadium, swirling like tiny ballerinas. Wow. I paused to look at the sky. There was a snow cloud, obviously, but the sun also shined down and a huge double rainbow sliced across it.

Pro Hero Midnight got up on a podium and slipped off her eyemask, "Now the _real_ fun is about to begin." She licked her lips. Was she really the best Hero to conduct a high school festival? A huge screen appeared with a spinning wheel of challenges. I held my breath and watched as the colors whirled dizzyingly. Cavalry battle. "Hell yeah!" I whooped, nearly elbowing Bakugo in the face. Cavalry battles were right up my alley. I was able to keep myself safe while simultaneously screwing everyone else over. My 'hell yeah'-ness quickly dissipated though, as Midnight showed the point values assigned to each student. I was at… _TEN FREAKING MILLION?!_ I felt 42 students' eyes turn to me as Midnight continued. Damn. That put a hell of a target on my back. It made me really nervous.

Thankfully, I was able to muscle Todoroki, Kaminari, and Momo onto my team. I would work the best with Kaminari's Quirk, and Todoroki and Momo were amazing strategists. I tied the red headband with 10,000,000 on it over my forehead and grinned at other students' reactions. They would have to deal with me flying if they wanted my points. "Come and get me," I said with a dangerous smile. I saw some other students start to sweat. Good.

Todoroki turned to me, "Arashi, you're at the front of our formation. We'll use your height and Quirk to protect everyone else." I slipped the headband off my head and jammed it over his half-and-half hair. He flinched and threatened me with his ice hand, but a glare from me stopped him. I hoisted him up on my shoulders, spreading my wings over his legs. Momo and Kaminari flanked me and took a little of Todoroki's weight. "Are we gonna see any hellfire today?" I asked over my shoulder. Todoroki glanced into the crowd. He was looking at his dad, Pro Hero Endeavor. The huge, flaming man was standing in the Pro booth, glaring down onto the field. "I don't use my _left_ side in combat," Todoroki said simply. "Way to hold a grudge," I commented.

As the countdown timer clicked to zero, every other team of students turned in our direction. "Lightning, or not yet?" I shot over my shoulder. Todoroki said quietly, "Both of you. On my signal." The other teams were coming at us in a nice neat circle. "3." Deep breath. "2." Alright, here we go. "Now!" Kaminari and I sent out a ginormous surge of electricity, covering a good eighty square meters. I strained to keep it away from Momo and Todoroki, but it was hard with so much. When the energy dissipated, the other teams were thoroughly fried, and even Momo and Todoroki were a little singed. I quickly recharged Kaminari, and we moved forward as fast as we could.

We managed to snag a low-point headband from a group of class 1-C before everyone was mobile again. Midoriya's group- Ochaco, a pink-haired girl, and Tokoyami- burst into the sky. Wait… did they have a jetpack? Bakugo burst up after them. I shot a look at Todoroki. He nodded with the tiniest of smiles. I laughed and broke away from our formation, whooping as I launched into the sky. "Welcome to my domain," I shouted as I zipped past Bakugo. I caught the tail of his headband and pulled, but only succeeded in yanking his head back and pissing him off. With a muttered "Shit!" I pulled away and circled back again. This time I managed to grab his actual headband, tucking in my wings and diving back to the ground before he could blow out my brains.

I slipped it over my head (damn this guy had a big noggin) and rejoined my team. "Nice," Kaminari said, "That was really cool!" I grinned, but didn't look back, "It's all part of the plan." Momo Created some kind of sharp rudder, and Todoroki iced it over. A wake of ice followed us as my wind zoomed us forward. Most everyone behind us was frozen in place, ice crusting their legs. We swerved through the stuck students, Todoroki nabbing two more headbands. "Arashi, time for some sun!" Todoroki shouted as we neared team Midoirya. I let the sun out completely, wincing as it hit me square in the eyes. Todoroki blocked off their exit with huge walls of ice. As we powered forward, I saw them conversing discreetly. "Watch out, guys," I muttered, "They're planning something." My team grunted in agreement.

Midoriya's team moved decisively to our left. Todoroki's fire side. They were definitely playing on our weaknesses now. "I can't attack them without freezing you," he said over my shoulder. "Then freeze me," I snapped, "I can take it." Before he could attack, however, Iida and Shoji launched over the ice walls and nabbed Midoriya's headband. "Wow! That speed," I said over my shoulder. We kind of stood around, dumbstruck, until the timer beeped to zero. Apparently, Iida had been hiding a kick-ass secret move from us all. That really stung, but I still congratulated him for his acrobatics.

As my team and I relaxed some, we were simultaneously psyching ourselves up for the challenge yet to come.

* * *

**This arc is split in half. I know, I know, I've been really awful lately about posting. But no worries, because on Monday next week, you'll get to see Haruto in one-on-one combat. Something to look forward to. :P Also I'm sorry this half is so short. Really having motivation troubles.**


	5. Chapter 5

The third and final trial of the sports festival was a one-on-one combat tournament. As class 1-A trooped back to our waiting room, I dropped my Quirk completely. Turns out it was supposed to rain that day. Tiny drops fell on our cheeks as we crossed the field. I earned myself a few scowls from other classes, but I was too tired to care. The break room was air conditioned and dry, and that was all I needed. I flopped down in a chair, a windy breath bursting from my lungs, "Sooooo tired," I moaned. Uraraka perched on the chair next to me, "Yeah, you've been holding the weather the whole time, huh?" I nodded, "Since the festival started." I got a few startled stares. Midoriya piped up with disbelief, "Wait. You were holding the weather _and_ fighting us at the same time?!" Curious glances from everyone else.

I rolled my eyes uncomfortably, "Yeah. It can't rain during one of the largest sporting events in the world." He trembled and turned away. I heard him mumble to himself. I shared a quick look with Uraraka, "How 'bout we go get some food?" She nodded and we made our way to the cafeteria. I went real heavy on the protein and carbs with an American-style chicken breast, steamed green beans, and mashed potatoes. As Momo slid into her seat with a mountain of mashed potatoes- no chicken- Mineta and Kaminari wandered up to our table. "Hey, girls," Mineta said, glancing over his shoulder at Kaminari, "Just thought you should know that you're supposed to wear the cheerleading uniforms for the last task." My eyes slid past him to a group of girls in said uniforms. They were very… skimpy. I flicked a green bean at Mineta, "Nice try, perv. I couldn't fit my wings into one of those, anyway."

They shrugged and wandered off, snickering to themselves. Momo stabbed at her potatoes. "Don't tell me you're actually considering wearing them!" I shrieked. She flinched, "But if we're supposed to… I don't want to get in trouble!" Momo started shoveling potatoes into her face, cranking out a few sets of uniforms. I glared at the other girls as they picked them up and trooped off to change. Midoriya looked up, "Hey, Arashi." I grunted. "So… since your mutation is a bird form… is eating chicken, like, cannibalism?" I spit out the chicken that was in my mouth, staring at it. My chair screeched against the floor as I shoved it back and marched to the bathroom.

I then proceeded to regurgitate my midday meal.

Okay, where was I? (Also, it's not cannibalism. I checked with my dad briefly over the phone. He got a kick out of that.) After a quick visit to Recovery Girl so I was cleared to continue (she laughed at me, too), I made my way back to the field, yanking the sun back out. I was horrified to see the other girls in the cheer uniforms from earlier, Mineta and Kaminari drooling at them. I flared my wings to block them as best I could as Momo basically deflated. That deterred them. Poor girls. I genuinely felt bad for them, so I said, "I'll stand here until you're decent, if you'd like?" Uraraka shook with a whimper, "We have to be ready for the cheerleading battle." I folded my wings and smiled, "Sorry, honey." Suddenly, there was a bundle of orange and white cloth being thrust into my hands. I looked up to see a very smug-looking Momo. "It'll fit with your wings, Haruto. So you can join us!" I absolutely blanked for a moment as she grinned. "You… want… me… to… wear… this?"

A few close-mouthed screams of frustration later, I moped out onto the field. My stomach was cold and too much of my legs were showing and I was uncomfortable as hell. "Wow, Haruto," Tsuyu- she insisted we call her Tsu- said, "You're really muscled." I was assuming she was referring to my body. I'd trained all my life, and it kind of showed. Like a lot. I wrapped myself in my wings, "I hate this so much!" But when we got to the cheer battle, my ability to drop a shit ton of confetti over the crowd won the day. It was the only game class 1-A won, and we were very smug about it, teasing the boys about their embarrassing losses. And I got to take off that stupid uniform. So, win-win.

Finally, it was time for the combat. I scanned the bracket for my name. I was against… Ashido. I read the name a few times. Then I looked over to her. Her face was a few shades paler pink than usual. Our fight was right in the middle, so we and the rest of the class got to sit in the bleachers and watch the others. First up were Midoriya and that purple-haired ass from a few days ago. I wondered what his Quirk was. The purple-haired ass had made it through the other trials easy-peasy, but hadn't passed the Hero course entrance exams. As he and Midoriya squared up, they shouted something at each other. Some kind of conversation? I was sitting between Uraraka and Bakugo, and I had to squish my wings to keep from shoving them.

Uraraka gasped, and I snapped back to the ring to see Midoriya slowly, deliberately walking toward the out-of-bounds line. If he walked over that line, it was game over for him. What the hell was he doing?! The class lurched to our feet, shouting at Midoriya. My shouts were along the lines of: "Snap out of it, hotshot! Get your goddamn ass in the game!" Bakugo's were similar, but much meaner to the other guy. Finally, Midoriya whipped around and yeeted the other guy out of bounds. He acted like he was hypnotized or something. Must've had something to do with the ass's Quirk. I heard Kaminari shout, "Hey, Bakugo! Didn't Midoriya use that shoulder throw on you?" Bakugo snapped back, "Shut your damn mouth, sparky!" I snorted and elbowed him in the ribs, "I see you've taken a page out of my brilliant nicknames book, sparkles!" He growled.

The crowd roared as Midoriya looked up, nose bleeding all over his clothes. I whipped up some of the leftover confetti from the cheer battle with a little wind vortex and funneled the little papers at Midoriya. The jet hit him square in the face before shooting into the sky and raining down. He shot me a scowl- a rare treat from Midoriya- and went back to grinning his face off.

He and the other guy made their way offstage, allowing Todoroki and Sero to march on. Sero had come up with a "brilliant" strategy for beating Todoroki. Everyone knew who would win in this match. Sero actually managed to snare Todoroki in a mess of his elbow-tape, and I started to reevaluate my opinion. Shit. Never mind. A gargantuan spike of ice forked into the side of the stadium, with Sero frozen solid at its base. "Overkill," I muttered, cranking up the heat and beginning to take care of the ice. Todoroki was warming up the bottom, but it took he, his dad Endeavor, and I a solid ten minutes to melt all of that damn ice. The crowd was trying to make Sero feel better all the while. He grinned and waved his weird elbows in the air. Weird.

After that came a battle between Kaminari and a girl from class 1-B with long, vine-like hair. She used her vine-hair to wrap up Kaminari while simultaneously keeping herself insulated from his attacks. The fight was over in less than a minute. Very amusing to Bakugo, Kirishima, and I. During Iida's match, I went back to the waiting room with Mina. "Hey," I said hesitantly. She turned around. "I want to apologize in advance. In case I hurt you." She winked, "Don't worry about me getting hurt! You're the one who'll have to watch your back!" Her energy put a smile on my face, but way deep down, I was really afraid of hurting her.

As I walked onto the field again, I heard Present Mic's voice over the loudspeakers, "She's not a bird, and she's certainly not a plane: it's recommendation student Haruto Arashi!" I stuck out my wings and shot the crowd a thumbs-up as I alighted onto the stage. Mina looked a bit more nervous than she had before. "Sorry, honey," I shouted, "But if I want to be a Hero, I can't let you win!" I used wind to bind her in place, keeping her stuck at the center of a small vortex. "I have to show them what I'm made of!" Her Quirk, Acid, allowed her to spew well… acid, and I saw threads of it starting to leech over the ground. Nope, nice try. I whipped the wind into a small tornado, throwing poor Mina completely out of bounds. As soon as she landed in a heap, I ran over and burst into tears, helping her to the nurse's. She eventually told me to stop saying sorry because it annoyed her so much.

I waited in the _waiting_ room until my next match, who I found out would be Tokoyami. That would be a harder fight. His Quirk, Dark Shadow, was fantastic for both offense and defense. Mine was, too, but I'd have to strategize as best I could. As far as I could tell, Dark Shadow didn't like light. So, sun. And he seemed to be made of smoke, so maybe wind? If I could take out Tokoyami, Shadow wouldn't be able to do anything. I was still mumbling to myself and drawing incoherent battle plans on a sheet of notebook paper when Tokoyami himself stalked in. "You ready for the ass-whooping of the century?" I asked without looking up. I heard him scoff, "You're the one getting your ass whooped. You tell me." "Great comeback," I said with a grin, "Let's see if you're that confident on the battlefield." He nodded and made his way out.

Taking a deep breath, I followed him, "Hey, bird brain," I asked. He scowled over his shoulder. "What'd I miss?" He ticked off the matches in order. Pretty predictable. "Oh," he said, "Also, Todoroki used his fire side in battle." I jumped, "No way." He nodded. I sprinted back into the waiting room to find Todoroki plopping into a chair. "You used your fire?!" He looked up, "No shit, sherlock." I mashed my hand into his face as I sat next to him, "Don't be a dick. Why'd you use it?" He shook my hand off, turning in his chair to face away. I kicked him in the shin, "We both know you hate your dad's guts. What finally convinced you to use your power?" A scowl flashed across his face, "Not what. Who."

I leaned back, "Midoriya." Tiny nod. "I'm glad." He looked up. "You've been afraid for a long time, ice cube. I'm glad that you came into your skin a little bit," I said with a small smile. A tiny pain stabbed at the back of my skull. Not the time. I must have winced, because Todoroki looked up, "How long have you been holding the weather?" I shrugged, "Two, three hours?" He glanced at the wall clock, "More like four." I sighed, "Is there a match going on?" I could hear Present Mic's shouting, so that was kind of a stupid question. "I can't let it rain right now. It would be counted as interference and I'd be disqualified," I said finally. Todoroki didn't look at me. He seemed very interested in a nick on the tabletop.

"I can hold it until the match is over."

Todoroki grunted, "Don't pass out or anything." I snorted and stood up, "Like hell. And you have no authority over me, ice cube." He opened his mouth to argue, but I flapped a hand at him, "I am officially sixteen hours older than you, thus I am your superior!" Todoroki waited for me to be done before pointing to a monitor in the corner, "It's time for your match." I almost tripped as I muttered "Shit!" and sprinted back to the field. Damn Todoroki smiled after me. Tokoyami was already pacing impatiently on the stage as I marched up. I saw little tendrils of smoke curl around his arms. Showtime.

I blared the sun as hot as I could manage without hurting anyone. The smoke quivered as it formed some kind of bird-headed snake thing. Cue the gale. Dark Shadow was buffeted and nearly blown away. A lopsided grin crept across my face as poor Tokoyami was nearly blown over. He had to stagger to keep on his feet. He looked up, a dark glint in his eye. Dark Shadow lunged forward, talons reaching for my skull. I easily sidestepped his attack and sprinted toward Tokoyami himself. He blinked, surprised. I heard Dark Shadow's enraged screech as his beak closed on empty air behind me. I was running into the wind, so I tucked my wings tight to my back as I rammed into Tokoyami. My shoulder went straight into his chest. The air exited his lungs in a (I'm assuming very painful) whoosh. The crowd roared as his feet slid over the line. I shook his hand firmly as Dark Shadow poofed away and I fixed the weather.

As I stepped, waving, into the hallway away from the field, a jarring spasm gripped my shoulders. Spots swam in my vision. No no no no no. I sagged against the wall as rain whipped in from outside. I heard Present Mic's voice drifting through the downpour, "Hold tight, folks. We'll get the sun back to shining momentarily!" Todoroki and Momo poked their heads out of the waiting room curiously. I was shaking a lot as I slid to the floor. Todoroki ran over to catch me, barking to Momo, "Get help!" I heard the crack of thunder outside, and the whispered clamoring of the crowd as they hurried to shelter themselves. Tears streamed down my face as my Quirk went haywire, raw nerves aching through my entire body. Todoroki held me tight, refusing to move even as I trembled and convulsed.

Finally, Recovery Girl and Papa rounded the corner and rushed forward. Papa muscled Todoroki out of his way and scooped me up like a ragdoll, "We're going to Hosu General, Shuzenji." Recovery Girl nodded and pulled out that cell phone of hers. What seemed like only a few seconds later, I was in the back of an ambulance, blinking furiously at the bright white lights. Finally, my tired brain gave out and I drifted into darkness.

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**Can't wait to get to Hero Killer arc! Sorry I'm running late... AGAIN.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Alright, this one is a doozy. It's a little longer to make up for the short chapters lately. Also, if you haven't noticed already, I took out Mashirao Ojiro. I really didn't feel like he was an important character, and that's kind of where the whole idea came from. I really hope you enjoy this action-packed chapter of Arashi Haruto's life! P.S. I make a bunch of outside references to Pokémon and Studio Ghibli in this chapter. Let me know if those add to the story or if they're just extra!**

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I woke up with the worst headache of my life.

Blood pounded behind my eyes and rushed through my ears. The sun glared through the open blinds of the hospital room I was in. A bag of IV fluid fed into my arm, its _drip, drip, drip_ the only sound in the room. My headache wasn't helped by the hospital's shitty decor. Look! White sheets! White walls! White goddamn everything!

I was pissed as hell and there was no one to yell at. My phone was resting on the little table next to the bed, so I picked it up and switched it on. My Pokémon phone case- a mess of Gen 3 legendaries- greeted me with a mishmash of Hoenn. My lock screen wallpaper was comprised of Gen 7 legendaries: my favorite. The date cut me short. Wow. It was two days after the sports festival and apparently I'd missed a hell of a show. Uraraka had created a "Class 1-A!:D" group chat and I had about six hundred-odd alerts. Lots were questions about what had happened to me. Some complaints about homework. A borderline porn meme from Mineta (Lots of dislikes). A few 'Wow! You're so powerful!' messages directed at Bakugo- who had WON THE FESTIVAL?!

My first message to the class was: "What in the hell did I miss?!"

A good thirty or so messages popped up all at once. 'You're okay!' and explanations of what happened clogged my screen. My points and standings had been completely erased (apparently I'd absolutely screwed up a match between Kirishima and Bakugo. They had to start over) and Tokoyami had taken the third place spot. Iida bailed around the halfway point for family reasons. In the final match- Bakugo versus Todoroki- Bakugo had gone nuclear on Todoroki, who supposedly didn't actually do anything. And boy, was sparkles _pissed_! Uraraka posted a picture of Bakugo strapped to a cement slab because he kept trying to blow everything up, his gold medal clenched in his teeth. "Lol"

I snorted and set my phone on my lap. There was a tv in the room- a little boxy one- so I turned it to the latest news. And I swear my heart skipped a beat. Pro Hero Ingenium- Iida's older brother- had been attacked and mutilated by a villain assassin calling himself Stain. I kind of stared at the screen for a minute as the news anchor rattled off some essential facts. Ingenium was in critical condition after receiving multiple stab wounds. His family asked the press to respect their privacy, so that was basically it. A really awful feeling grew in my stomach as the channel recounted previous attacks by Stain. He'd killed 17 Pros. How powerful was this guy to have taken on and either killed or maimed a total of 31 Pros? And he was somewhere in Hosu City. _My _city. I swallowed a lump in my throat and turned off the tv. Then I hurriedly sent Papa a text: "Have you seen the news?"

My phone beeped almost instantly: "Don't worry about it. Worry about making up the math test you missed yesterday." Before I could stop myself: "I had a math test?!" Then: "No shit, Sherlock." After hissing, "Damn you," at my phone, I sent another message to the group chat: "Is Iida okay?" Midoriya responded with: "Not sure. He was really shaken up. Are you okay?" If I could send a digital shrug- "Don't worry about it."

After I was discharged from the hospital, Mom and my brothers came to pick me up. Papa and I couldn't fit in cars, so they had dragged their bicycles out from storage and biked over. "Hey!" I shouted, waving them over to the curb. The sun was just dipping below the horizon, and everyone's faces were bright with golden light. Mom burst into tears, wrapping her arms around my neck and scolding me for pushing myself so hard. My brothers each got a fist bump. I flew over them as they pedaled back home. It wasn't far. Hosu City wasn't really a big place. People waved and took pictures of me with their phones as I zoomed overhead. Then it came to me. I was on international television! (But really… I screwed up on international television!)

The day I went back to school, it was raining hard. I really didn't feel like banishing a rainstorm that covered about half of Japan (too much effort), so I pulled on a rain slicker over my backpack and took off. However bad the rain was, the wind was worse. I was buffeted and yanked all over the place on my way. And I most certainly wasn't pleased by the fact that my wings were absorbing water like two feathery sponges.

I was dripping everywhere as I checked into UA. One of the front desk ladies offered me a towel, which I took with a sheepish smile and a thanks. In the locker room, the other girls froze when I walked in. "Haruto!" "You're okay!" "Wow, you're dripping everywhere!" I was flustered and freaked out by their sudden attention. "You guys," I whined, "Leave me beeeeeeeeeee."

I dragged my wet wings to class (deadweight, trust me) and plopped down. Bakugo stomped past, but hesitated. He slammed his hands on my desk. I looked up, bemused. "I'm glad you're okay," he growled, "You really scared everyone." Then he retreated to his desk. "Aw, that's so sweet of you, sparkles," I said softly. I really meant to poke fun at him, but I genuinely appreciated his concern. Uraraka passed by next, pausing to talk to me on her way. "Bakugo is right. We were really worried. And we're all super happy that you're back." I grinned, "Happy to be back!"

And at last, Todoroki. He didn't stop as he stormed past, a cold wind in his wake. I jumped out of my chair and followed him back, "Hey!" He didn't look at me as he sat down. "Thank you," I snapped, "If you hadn't caught me, I would have cracked my skull open like a coconut. Thank you." He looked up through his mismatched eyelashes, "You're welcome." I rolled my eyes and made some kind of incoherent angry noise before stalking back to my spot. He literally stopped me from maiming myself and he couldn't man up and accept my thanks!

Mr. Aizawa wandered in slowly. "Hey, Mr. Aizawa," Tsu chirped, "You don't have bandages any more!" He looked sideways at us through his hair and sighed, "Today we'll be doing Hero training in the classroom." I groaned and dropped my head on my hand. This was looking to be boring. "You'll be deciding the code names for your internships." I whooped and punched my fist into the air as the class cheered behind me. Aizawa's Quirk fired up, leaving the class scrambling back to their seats. We all squirmed a bit. We hated the feeling. "They'll be related to the draft picks. Usually, first-years don't have to worry about the draft, but you're a special case. By investing in first-years like you, Pro Heroes are essentially investing in your potential. Offers can be rescinded if their interest wanes." I coughed, "Wow. Way to ruin someone's childhood." Aizawa scowled harder as Hagakure piped up, "So we'll have to prove ourselves even after we're recruited?" He sighed, "Correct, now, here are the totals for those of you who received offers."

A bar graph appeared on the board, with numbered names. Todoroki, Bakugo… There I was! I'd received 1 mysterious offer! A few snowflakes shook out of my hair as I bounced happily. I was super curious who had requested me (and a little voice in the back of my head wondered why I didn't get more). Todoroki- even though he hadn't won- received the most offers out of all of us by far. I hated to say it, but I muttered, "Hey, ice cube. You know it's probably 'cause of your dad, right?" I winced as he shrugged. We'd already experienced combat, so all of us would end up in an internship. That was pretty fair. Even those without offers were fighting baddies pretty early on.

And to be Hero interns… WE NEEDED HERO NAMES!

I already had mine pretty much mapped out. Either Thunderbird (after my Quirk, duh) or Zapdos (search it if you don't know). But I was pretty sure pop-culture references as Hero names were frowned upon, so Thunderbird it was! Midnight swaggered in, slamming the door shut behind her. I swear I could hear Mineta drooling. Aizawa returned to his sleeping bag and let Midnight take over the naming. She passed whiteboards and markers down the columns of desks. I almost gagged as the sharp smell of 20 markers being opened. Boy, did I hate the smell.

I scrawled my name in messy Japanese that was honestly barely legible and marched to the front, slamming my board down on Aizawa's podium. "The Tempest Hero: Thunderbird!" I shouted. Lightning zapped at the corner of my eye as I grinned. "The thunderous power of a storm of good!" I winked and a huge boom of thunder echoed me from outside. "Wow!" Midnight squealed, "A powerful name for a powerful up-and-coming Hero! Villains would quiver at the mention!" Then quieter, "Thank you for going first, Miss Arashi." I grinned and zoned out on my way back to my seat. I registered everyone's names and categorized them: stupid and regrettable, or actually really cool.

Next was Aoyama. "Can'tStopTwinkling." Stupid and regrettable. If he was trying to intimidate a villain in the future, it was kind of a pansy name. Then Tsu. "Froppy." Awesome! It really reflected her approachableness and kindness. Also, it was super cute! Kirishima took a page out of the Chivalrous Hero's- Crimson Riot's- book and called himself "Red Riot." That was a really neat name, too. It brought to mind his mess of spiky red hair and his raucous attitude. Midnight cooed at them from time to time, but otherwise let the class do most of the judging. I was feeling all high and mighty with my kick-ass name until Bakugo stomped up.

"King Explosion Murder!"

I snorted a laugh and rocked back in my chair, hugging myself with laughter. Midnight made a face, "That seems a little too violent." I practically hooted, "Hey, Bakugo! Why don't you go for 'King Explosion Sparkles?!'" I almost fell out of my chair at his offended expression followed by sailor-worthy curses. Turning back to see others' expressions, I saw Todoroki trying to bury a smile in a hearty scowl. Momo looked ready to facepalm herself off of the nearest building. Midoriya smiled, but looked kind of confused. Kaminari, Kirishima, and Jiro had similar reactions to mine, howling with laughter all over the room. Iida and Uraraka just looked lost. That only made the whole shebang funnier to me.

Once Midnight had shut us up, the rest of the class flew by. Iida and Todoroki just used their first names (Tenya and Shoto), which I definitely thought was a waste of their time. Pro Heroes had code names for a reason. Then Uraraka with "Uravity." Super clever in my opinion. Also it was a play on words and I liked to think that I was punny, so.

Aizawa passed out lists with internship opportunities on them. I thought it was pretty funny that Bakugo and Todoroki got a few-centimeter-thick packet with their _thousands_ of offers listed. One name was underlined on my sheet. "Endeavor, #2 Hero Agency." Interesting. I wondered what Endeavor saw in me that literally no one else did. So I circled it, obviously. He'd made a request, so it was kind of a no-brainer. I listed Pro Hero Hawks as my second choice and Pro Hero Best Jeanist as my third. Both had more or less similar Quirks to mine, so it would be easier to work with them on training. But Endeavor's offer really got me thinking. Why did he want to train _me_? Was it because of my power level (not bragging, just a fact) or my combat skills? Was it because of my winning attitude? (Yeah, probably not that one.)

I turned in my sheet confidently before lunch. On my way to the cafeteria, Iida appeared in front of me, "Arashi!" I tried to duck around him, "Iida!" He swiftly blocked my exit. "Come on, legs, I'm huuunnngggrrryyy!" He smiled, "I have a nickname now!" Then he posed dramatically, "I have earned your trust!" I rolled my eyes and attempted to muscle past. "You live in Hosu City, right?" Pausing, I looked dead into his eyes, "Did you get taller? Damn pubescent boys." He didn't laugh or smile. I sighed uncomfortably, "Yeah, I live in Hosu. Little too far from Tokyo for my liking, but near enough to here that I can fly to school." Thinking… "Hey, wasn't your brother's Agency in Hosu?" Iida flinched, but smiled wide, "Don't worry about my brother. I've also heard that the Manual Agency is there. I'm thinking that's where I want to do my internship." I stuck my tongue out, "Why Manual? His Quirk and fighting style don't go with yours at all- hold on," I scowled, finally putting the pieces together, "You want to look for the assassin. That's a bullshit idea, legs." Iida smiled again, but I could see something flicker across his face, "Of course not! I'm trying to broaden my horizons in the Hero world."

I finally shoved my way past, but looked back at him, "You call me if you're planning on doing anything stupid. I'll be close by, and annoying backup is better than no backup." I strode off to the cafeteria. Iida was smart and careful. He wouldn't do something so careless… would he?

No one else was at my lunch table that day, all of them staying in the classroom to decide their internships. My mom had tried her hand at packing a character bento box. I was assuming that it was supposed to be some kind of My Neighbor Totoro theme, but O-Totoro himself was looking a little sad. His meticulously cut eyes had slid off and settled on the banana Cat Bus, and it was a really unsettling image. I got a hot lunch after Chibi-Totoro's little rice face caved in.

I was going to have a talk with Mom later.

We reconvened in the classroom to see if our choices had been accepted. My name was last on the list for some reason. Some shit alphabetizing. Midnight read the names and the Agencies, and a few golf claps pattered around the room. When Todoroki was called out for Endeavor's Agency, I deflated like a balloon. It was rare to have two kids go to the same Agency. It happened with Momo and someone from class 1-B, but in the same class? Fat chance. I buried my face in my hands as Tokoyami was given Hawks. And Bakugo: Best Jeanist. If I could groan in class, I would sound like a dying whale. Finally my turn.

"Arashi Haruto," she paused for dramatic effect. I peeked in between my fingers. "Also Endeavor Agency. Hmm, that's interesting." Snowflakes burst out of my fingertips as I pumped my fist into the air, "Yessssssss!"

I sped home as fast as I could, slamming the door open and sprinting into the kitchen. My family looked up from dinner, startled. "I got the Endeavor Agency as my internship!" I said breathlessly. My mother clapped happily, and my brothers started asking ten billion questions. Papa, however, looked like he wanted to kill something. He looked up and ground through gritted teeth, "Your room. _Now._" I scowled and marched off. After not-so-gently unbuttoning my blazer, I kicked my shoes as hard as I could into the wall. Five minutes later, I growled, "Hurry up," under my breath. Ten minutes. Fifteen. Finally, Papa barged in (without knocking, mind you) and plopped down on my extra-wide, wing-friendly bed. The end I was sitting on bounced into the air upon impact. "Papa!" I whined, scrambling off to my feet. "You're not doing the damn internship," He snapped, looking up with the same warm brown eyes that I had. "I have to, Papa," I countered, "It's a grade." He snorted, "Not with _that_ motherfucker." My jaw dropped open to snap back, but what he said made me reconsider, "What do you mean?" I perched on the bent-up corner of my bed. He blew a sigh through his teeth, "Endeavor is not the kind of Hero I want you working with." I flopped over onto my stomach, kicking my feet back and forth like a little kid, "Why?" He scowled, "He's a bitch, kiddo. Not even his sidekicks really like him."

I responded to that with, "Not even his family really likes him." Papa shook his head with a wry laugh, "No, they don't." Then he paused, considering something, "C'mere." I scooted closer as Papa took his phone out of his pocket. It looked really tiny in his huge hand. He opened his photo album and scrolled to the very first picture. I rolled my eyes, 'That's your wedding picture. I've seen it before." Mom had forced Dad and his entourage to go to Chicago for the wedding. Papa looked absolutely perfect in his tux, his wings gleaming in the sunset behind them. Mom was like a goddamn model (I _wish_ I was as graceful as her) in a blinding white gown. I scanned the faces to my dad's right, counting the tuxedos. His finger jabbed at the screen, pointing at a red-haired guy. The only person _not_ smiling in the picture. "That, my darling, is Enji Todoroki," Papa said triumphantly. "No fucking way. He was your best man?!" I screeched. Papa nodded solemnly, "And my best friend until about ten years ago. We went to school together, lived in the same apartment building, even had the same damn backpack as kids."

"Then he started going all power-hungry," Papa's voice dropped a pitch, anger swirling through his words, "He married Rei, and every ounce of the guy he was before… just disappeared. He was obsessed with creating the perfect child and becoming number one." I said softly, "Shoto Todoroki." Papa sighed, "Then we had a falling out, and he was just too far gone to bring back." He laughed, a soft, sad sound, "He was the first one besides your mother and I to hold you, y'know. You and his son were born at Hosu General, but you already know that. You were sixteen hours ahead, and he came to see you." I snorted, "Believe me, I don't let Todoroki forget!" Papa ruffled my hair, "Damn you and your smile. Now I don't have any reason to keep you from that damn internship." I winked, "It's your smile, Papa." As he was leaving, he snorted, "But you've got your mother's dimples, so it's her fault."

The next day at school, we were given our costumes in little cases (they weren't supposed to be seen in public yet) and carted off to the station to take trains to our respective internships. I was going to be flying (duh) alongside the train with Todoroki inside. My family didn't necessarily have the money to pay for tickets, so this was easier. I hiked my costume case over my backpack and lifted off as the train picked up speed, saluting Iida on the ground. He looked up, dark determination written all over his face.

Dumb. Ass.

The view was pretty, a bunch of mountains and fields upon fields of sparkling rice paddies. And when the train pulled into the station, I could see the Endeavor Agency. It was a huge skyscraper with mirrored glass windows and a stupid amount of communications equipment balanced precariously on the roof. Huge crowds of people ran in and out of the building. From way up in the sky, they looked like a bunch of little ants. Wow, Haruto. Wake up. You're not _that_ powerful.

I met Todoroki on the boarding platform. He looked as pissed as ever as he strode past without a word. "Rude!" I scoffed, but quickly fell into step, "Hey, your dad patrols Hosu, right?" He grunted. "Maybe we'll see Iida and Manual. That'd be neat. Ooh! Or my family!" Todoroki wasn't looking enthusiastic enough, so I elbowed him in the ribs, "You look like you've seen a ghost, ice cube. You sure this internship was the right pick?" Todoroki steeled his jaw and squared his shoulders, "I want to reconnect with my father. We've grown apart over the years and I want to make an effort." I nodded, impressed, "Hardcore." He shrugged, "Also, he's the number two Hero for a reason. I want to learn from him." I scoffed, "You and me both, ice cube."

We walked for about ten minutes in silence before we reached the foot of Endeavor's Agency. I looked up as far as I could, taking a few careful steps backward, "I can't see the top." Todoroki huffed, "It's 50 stories tall. I doubt you could unless you were flying." I rolled my eyes and hurried to catch up with him, "Is that jealousy I detect? Also, where's all the fanfare?" I wrapped my hands around each other and made a vaguely trumpet-like noise, "It's the new interns! Welcome to our humble Agency!" Todoroki scoffed, "It's Endeavor, not a tea party." I took a hefty amount of offense to that, babbling after him angrily as he triumphantly stalked into the building. We took the elevator (not a fan, myself. I hated enclosed spaces.) to the top floor, which was marked as floor #1. Instead of floor #50. I rolled my eyes as we entered a cavernous office. A single desk sat in the dead center, looking tiny compared to the empty space around it.

Two sharp blue eyes regarded us over a flaming beard, lit from beneath like some kind of video game boss. The number two Hero was dressed in a smartly tailored suit that was half-hidden by his desk. I bowed as low as I could without losing my backpack, "Endeavor-sensei. I am Arashi Haruto, here from UA High for the internship." Endeavor stood from his massive high-backed chair, stomping forward. "Noted," he said boredly, "Welcome to the hardest internship in Japan, children. Shoto, get that ridiculous uniform off and get into combat gear. Miss Arashi, come with me." Endeavor stomped into the next room without another word. I shot a look at Todoroki before dropping my bag and case near the wall and following him. As I pushed open the door, a bundle of cloth came flying at my face. I caught it, thankfully. A black tank top, fingerless gloves, and cropped leggings. He shot a pair of hair ties at my face next. Those I couldn't quite snag and they whipped into my face. Damn did that sting. "Go get dressed," he said over his shoulder, "My secretary can direct you to the nearest restroom. We'll tape your wings when you get back." I paused as I turned to exit, "I don't know if I heard you right. Tape my wings?"

Shit. "With all due respect, sir," I said quickly. He sighed. Oh yeah. This guy was definitely Todoroki's dad. "Just do it." I bobbed a little bow and hurried to the little foyer on the floor below. The 'secretary' was actually one of his sidekicks, a lady named Burnin. She looked annoyed at my appearance, but directed me to the bathroom all the same. The clothes fit perfectly, and I wondered where they'd come from. I sprung for messy double buns with the hair ties. When I made my way back and shoved my balled-up uniform into my backpack, Todoroki magically appeared from the shadows, dressed more or less like I was. Black tank, black cargo shorts, a red glove and a white glove. Endeavor was in his costume, and I could feel the heat radiating off of him. Excitement zapped through me like a little spark of lightning.

"All right," Endeavor snapped, crossing his arms, "You two are going to spar. Three taps if it's too much. No Quirks." Suddenly, Burnin popped up behind me and started wrapping some kind of belt-thing around my wings. I flinched and tried to turn away, but a glare from Endeavor stopped me in my tracks. "Sir, I-" He cut me off with: "Watch your tongue, Thunderbird." I stifled a groan and let Burnin tie off the tape. I couldn't move my wings pretty much at all and it was really throwing a wrench in how excited I was. The only good thing was: I'd been doing martial arts my whole life, from Aki-do to Krav Maga.

Endeavor led us down to a training floor with padded floors, weight racks everywhere, a sparring ring, and a few punching bags hanging in random intervals from the ceiling. "Today, we'll be getting a good assessment of your physical fighting style," Endeavor boomed, leading us to the ring. It was a bamboo mat with thin ropes marking the boundaries. I cracked my knuckles as I swung a leg over, adjusting my gloves. "I hope you're ready to get your ass whooped," I said, a tiny bit too loud. "Watch your language!" With a hasty "Yessir!" Todoroki and I circled up. I kept up on my toes, scanning Todoroki's body language for an opening. Finally, I darted forward and swept his legs out from under him, flipping him over and planting my knee in the center of his back. He promptly shoved backward. I regained my footing as he scrambled to his feet.

And he was _pissed_.

He lunged at me, going for my legs, so I sidestepped him and caught his elbow. Todoroki cracked a smile and pinned my arm behind my back in the most painful of holds. "Dammit!" I hissed, wrenching away and rolling out of his range. My bare feet stuck to the mat a tiny bit, so I used that to launch myself forward and nail my shoulder into his rib cage. He went down, coughing and sputtering. I gave Todoroki a second to stand up and shake himself off. Endeavor made a disapproving noise. Todoroki's gaze snapped to behind me, anger written all over his face. I got a little distracted, and he was able to land an elbow in my side. Pain ricocheted down my arm. A manic laugh burst out of my throat as I responded with the heel of my hand to his nose as he rushed me again. Something warm splashed on my hand.

I whipped around to Todoroki wiping blood from his nose. Endeavor looked mildly surprised (or he was constipated. It was kind of hard to tell). Todoroki looked angrier than I had ever seen him, his face twisted in a scowl. He was panting hard, glaring daggers at me. I was pretty winded, too, but damn me if I was going to let him see that. Shaking the blood off my hand, I began to pace again. Now things were getting intense. I grinned, "Come at me, ice cube." And he did. And I was totally expecting him to. I kneed him in the chest and followed him to the ground, keeping my knee on his chest. He tried to roll off, but I held tight. I pressed harder and harder until his red-gloved hand slapped against my leg. _One. Two. Three._

I got off of him and offered him a hand up, but he blew me off and stumbled to his feet. "Well done," Endeavor mused, "Get your clothes back on. We're done for today." Todoroki angrily stalked off while Burnin unwrapped my wings. "Endeavor-sensei?" I called before he could leave. "What?" He snapped. "My dad showed me a wedding photo of his. I didn't know you knew each other," I said carefully. "Ah, Daichi. What's he go by now? Albatross?" I nodded. Endeavor turned to face me, looking very decisively down, "He's a good man, Thunderbird." I mumbled some kind of indiscernible thanks before grabbing my school uniform and changing.

Ok. I was going to strangle Todoroki when I saw him next.

A huge, elbow-shaped bruise covered literally my entire left side. And it hurt like hell. It really sucked when I tried to put on my blazer. Damn that sucker had tiny buttons. I didn't even feel like flying home I was so goddamn sore. My wings were stiff and my knuckles were bruised and it just sucked. So I walked the four kilometers home. Not far, but not close either.

My family was out at dinner with one of my mom's work friends (I'd politely declined), so I showered like my life depended on it and went straight to bed. I actually couldn't fall asleep straight away. I kept thinking about Todoroki's attitude. He was usually a little distant, and the intensity I saw today made me nervous. Obviously, there was something screwed up between father and son there. I didn't really want to find out what.

The next morning, I was somewhat less sore. I went straight into my costume and downed a glass of water before leaving the house. Papa was passed out on the couch with the news playing on the tv. The remote rested on his slowly rising chest. With a tiny, happy eyeroll, I set the remote on the coffee table and pulled an old blanket over him. With a little smooch, I grabbed my backpack and took off for Endeavor Agency.

Todoroki was walking in from outside when I set down. "Hey, ice cube," I offered. "Hey." Very non-committal. I sighed, "I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I'm honestly not sure what came over me. And I know, in front of your dad, it sucks to lose." He looked to be ignoring me, so I cut him off in the lobby, "I'm sorry, okay?!" A few people looked up from their respective tasks. Todoroki huffed and rolled his eyes. "Well damn you, then!" I shouted, "You want to blow me off? Damn you. The only reason I'm here is to learn. I was hoping to do that _with_ you, but if you're going to be an asshole, I'll do it _better than_ you." Todoroki had the balls to look bored. "Get the hell out of my way, snowflake." I stormed past, rain pattering at the windows of the foyer.

A cold breeze tickled the back of my neck, but all it did was make me smile. Finally, a reaction. "Go ahead and strike, ice cube. We both know who'll melt first," I said over my shoulder. The room got a few degrees colder, and some of the people around us looked genuinely terrified. "I want to be a Hero to help people, ice cube," I said, in a softer tone. Then I looked up, my signature lightning eyes meeting his mismatched ones, "And if that means that I have to screw someone over- our classmates _or_ a villain- then so be it."

A flaming heat appeared in between us. "That's enough, _children_."

I whipped around to Endeavor, "And I'm going for the number one spot, too." With a windy gust, I zoomed closer and looked Endeavor dead in the eyes, "And nothing in hell is gonna stop me." Endeavor had that same stupid look on his face. Half-surprised and half-bemused. "We're going on patrol to look for the Hero Killer, Thunderbird." He bent down so we were eye-to-eye, "And you're going to behave, or so help me, I'll shut you up myself." I grinned a dare, "I'd like to see you try." A quick flash of anger appeared on his face, but he grumbled and stomped out before things could get any worse.

Endeavor ordered me to fly over the city where they were walking, looking for any threats ahead of time. After several hours of this, my communicator beeped, Endeavor's tinny voice leaking through the speaker, "Get down here. We have a situation." I tucked in my wings and dove as the sun disappeared behind the mountains. Something resembling the thing that attacked the USJ- Nomu, the big black monster dude- was being burnt to a crisp by Endeavor. I set down and made my (really kick-ass, mind you) lightning whips, coiling them at my hips in case we needed them. A little old man dressed in yellow and white was standing by Endeavor. I made the smart decision to keep my mouth shut at this point.

"Have the citizens of Hosu evacuated, sir?" I asked. The question about my family remained unsaid. Endeavor didn't look over, "Yes, but there are a few left. They're leaving now." Todoroki crouched next to the seemingly unconscious Nomu, "This one is different." I poked it with the toe of my boot, "Yeah. It's skinnier and probably faster than the tank at the USJ. Also, look. It has more eyes. Ew." The little man looked up, and I recognized his face almost instantly. "Hey, you're the Hero Midoriya's interning with," I pointed out, "Where is the hotshot, anyway?" The man shook his head, "He and I were separated when the Nomu attacked. There's a bigger fight with more of these things a few blocks down. He's probably somewhere near there."

I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket with the intent of checking the news for any info. As I unlocked it, a single notification lit up my screen. A set of coordinates texted from Midoriya on the group chat. I looked up the coordinates in a mapping app I had, and received no results besides a city name. Hosu City. "Hey, ice cube?" I said slowly. He rolled his eyes, "Todoroki to you." I huffed, "A: you know I'll never call you that. B: There's a weird message from Midoriya on the group chat." Todoroki held out his hand, and I dropped my phone into it. "Does this mean we're friends again?" I asked, clasping my hands under my chin and batting my eyelashes. "Let it go," he said with a glare. I blew a raspberry at him, "Alright, Queen Elsa." Todoroki's eyes flicked back down to the message. He frowned as he read it, then practically growled, "Let's go."

Todoroki ran off to tell Endeavor that we were going to investigate, and that Endeavor had to deal with the Nomu without us.

When he came back, I lifted him up under his arms and flew to Midoriya's coordinates. "Hey, do you think he got caught by one of those Nomus?" I shouted over the whistle of the wind. "Don't know, but Midoriya doesn't send stuff like that usually. And something that specific must have some kind of meaning."

As I neared the alley in a shabbier part of the city, I knew something was wrong. I took Todoroki up to a nearby rooftop. We couldn't see all the way down, but sounds of a scuffle made it clear enough that something was up. "I've got the ground, you've got air support," he snapped. I stuck out my tongue, but launched up anyway.

He nodded up at me and made an ice slide down into the alley. I dove in after him, taking in what I could. Big, gangly dude with knives. Midoriya and Iida dodging said knives. Pro Hero Native down. Clearly, the guy with the kitchen knives was the issue.

He landed a throwing knife in Iida's shoulder, and by the amount of blood on the ground, it wasn't the first time. Midoriya shouted to Todoroki, "Don't let him draw blood!" Damn. What was this guy's Quirk?

That fucker _licked_\- yes, licked- his katana, and Midoriya froze in mid-step. Maybe his Quirk had to do with ice or blood… or both. Todoroki was dodging attacks left and right with crazy-fast ice and fire blasts. I landed and knelt by Native. He was covered in gaping holes. He gasped, "Get out of here, kid. He's only after me and the guy in white armor. Get out while you still can." Way to be counterproductive. I tried to force him to his feet, blocking him from the combat with my wings.

I couldn't do any big-time damage to the bad guy with the boys and Native so close by. Not with my Quirk, anyway. Even my lightning whips were too long-range.

"Haruto!" I whipped around to a set of small knives landing with a _thwup, thwup, thwup, _in my right wing, hissing as burning pain ripped into my back. I set Native down and dodged a few more, carving my way toward the big guy.

Was this the Hero Killer?

I brought out my trusty whips and took a crack at a long-range attack. The Hero Killer threw- yes, threw- Iida's paralyzed body at me, and I was forced to dismiss my whips as he crashed into me. Nudging Iida against the alley wall, I darted toward the Hero Killer. Damn this guy was fast. He dodged my first couple of attacks, but I finally managed to land a kick where the sun don't shine. He doubled over and winced. Iida and Midoriya were both still as statues, and Todoroki was limping around with several small knives embedded in his arms. I was cursing this guy up and down, circling back.

I was busy lunging again at the villain with my wings flared wide, when I froze. I couldn't move at all. I was stuck. The guy stood up raggedly and proudly held up a bloody dagger. My wing. "Damn you!" I snapped. An angry storm swirled above us, responding to my mood. No rain yet.

I pulled down lightning and struck over and over, but I couldn't control it without my goddamn body. He dodged too easily and kept advancing on me. He rammed into me, pinning my stupid unresponsive body to the wall of the building. A kind of strangled variation of the word "Damn!" filtered through my gritted teeth. The guy drew a battered katana from his belt and rammed it through my shoulder and my wing deep into the concrete behind me. Shit. It hurt like hell, and tears streamed down my frozen face. He let go, and I was left hanging from the blade. I cried out as my full weight landed on the steel. "You're in my way," he said in a gravelly, soft voice, "But you are strong. I won't kill you." I strained really hard and dangled limply. I could move again! He must've had a time limit. "Damn you, headband!" I choked, struggling to get the sword _out. _Finally, it slid out and landed with a clatter on the ground. I followed it, landing hard on my knees. "Todoroki, he's gonna fall hard!" I shouted. After a fantastic dual attack from Iida and Midoriya, I struck. Bolting up behind the guy, I took flight, grabbed him and flew _up_. My wing screamed and the guy kicked and struggled, but up, up, up I went. About 20 meters in the air, I let go.

He twisted in the air and chucked a dagger at me. I dodged easily and watched Todoroki rock him to the ground with ice. As I hovered, I heard a weird whistling sound. The dagger thudded into my injured wing. I went down fast. About a meter from the ground, Todoroki caught me. I staggered off the ice to my feet, "Cutting it a little close there, ice cube." He scowled at me. "But thanks. That could have been… y'know… _splat._" He didn't look amused.

Todoroki and Midoriya found some rope and tied up ye olde Hero Killer, and I hiked Native over my uninjured shoulder. Iida led the way to help.

I was too buzzed on adrenaline to worry about the blood dripping from my fingertips or the agony that hovered at the corners of my awareness. And I'm pretty sure the boys were, too. As we came to the city center, a huge mess of Pros surrounded us. "Why did you have to drag me into this?" I grumbled as a swarm of them overtook us. Native was promptly snatched away and hustled into an ambulance. Endeavor was _PISSED_ as hell. He was just starting to scold us when one of the Nomu (this one had wings) swooped down and grabbed Midoriya.

We kind of froze for a second. Then I sprinted after the Nomu, lifting off and chasing it. Wow this thing was _fast_. I was injured, and having a real hard time keeping up. The little man from earlier bounded up and tried to kick it, but it swerved away. Its exposed brain was bleeding all over the place, and it suddenly stopped in midair and plummeted down. "_SHIT_!" I dove down and slammed into Midoriya, rolling over in the air to cushion the fall with my wings and a blast of air. None other than the Hero Killer appeared and jammed a knife into its brain. Gross.

Suddenly, his boot was on my back in between my wings and his fist was balled in the front of Midoriya's costume. I wiggled and tried to throw his boot off, but the spikes on the toe dug into my skin. Dammit. I was forced to hold still. If I zapped him, I'd fry Midoriya, but if I didn't, how much damage would he do? Angry storm clouds still swirled overhead, and wind whipped up hair and capes everywhere. "Get… off… me…" I ground out. The Hero Killer staggered to the side and fired up some kind of aura ability. Some kind of horrible dread washed over me, and all I wanted to do was fall back and cower. Dammit. I almost did, feeling hot waves of anguish try to force me down.

Screw that.

I finally brought out the storm, rain coming down in droves. Ready… The Hero Killer staggered forward, his rant coming to a crescendo. Aim… He paused for dramatic effect. I screamed and slammed a lightning bolt on the Hero Killer. Somehow, I managed to stagger to my feet and redirect the leftover electricity into my hands, keeping it close around my fists as the Hero Killer slumped to the ground. "Shut. The. Fuck. Up!" I roared, dispersing the storm with a boom of thunder that shook the ground.

Taking a moment to look around, I realized that literally everyone else looked terrified. And they were all looking at me. I shot them a thumbs-up paired with a faintly queasy smile. Wooooo, was all that adrenaline catching up with me. Something started to hurt somewhere, and my body took that as a cue to nope out of the situation, my legs folding underneath me as I plopped onto my butt.

I vaguely registered a few EMTs coming over and hefting me into an ambulance, and a noisy ride back to Hosu General. Then there was a quick visit from Recovery Girl to help speed my healing up. I didn't get a wink of sleep that night, and I was quarantined and given my own personal 'everyone is scared shitless of me now' police guard. The morning came way too slowly for my taste, and first thing, I got a visit from Hosu's chief of police. He had the head of a basset hound and said "woof" at the end of every sentence. He'd be cute if he wasn't literally pardoning me from a prison sentence.

After my lightning strike, the Hero Killer was in bad shape. He'd recover, but it didn't matter. I'd almost killed someone using my Quirk, and that was ILLEGAL. The Chief told me that Endeavor was planning to take the blame for the whole crapfest. Then the Chief did something I didn't appreciate. He tried to tell me that I should've stayed with Endeavor. "With all due respect, sir," I said from my bed, bandaged up like an actual mummy, "I know that it was wrong to disobey my sensei's orders, _and_ to take on a villain in public with my Quirk," cue the wince, "But all I was trying to do was _help_, sir." He smiled slightly. "A-and I know that deserves punishment, technically, but think of how bad things would've- could've- been if we hadn't taken action," I said, as slowly and reasonably as I could.

Tears shone in my eyes as my head snapped up, "And I don't care about the punishment if I did what was right!" The Chief bowed his head, "Very noble of you, Miss Arashi. Thankfully, you'll be free from punishment thanks to Endeavor. I'd also like to offer you my thanks for the service you have done the public. Good day." He bowed tersely and slid the door shut on his way out. I completely and totally lost my shit. Triumphant, happy tears slid down my face as I stared out my window.

I would never apologize for saving lives.


	7. Chapter 7

I was kept in the hospital for an extra day after the boys were discharged. And I was _not_ pleased. Apparently, they were taking "records of my physiology," but the only thing I saw change was the little camera in the corner occasionally flashed red when it turned on. I could have texted the class, but I was just fine with staring blankly out the window. And thinking way too much about the night before. Things I could have done differently. How dangerous I really was. How… _scared_ I had been. The Nomus and the Hero Killer attacking at the same time. Were they both affiliated with the League of Villains, Shigaraki's ragtag group of baddies? After their attack on the USJ, and this one, I found myself wondering how far they were filling to go.

Now, I like to think that I can handle things myself, and that usually gives me a huge confidence boost, but it also can be a pain. I don't work well with others, necessarily, and I'm too powerful for petty combat. Like last night- did I really have to hit the villain with a billion volts just to shut him up? It would definitely ruin my reputation if anyone found out. I needed to get myself under control.

Eventually, I got a freaked-out call from Uraraka demanding to know if I was okay. I responded with, "Duh, nothing fazes the unstoppable Thunderbird!" After she hesitantly hung up, I scrolled through the news to update myself. Oh. My. God. People were talking about the Hero Killer's "true Hero" philosophy. Some of them sounded like they _agreed_ with it. Bullshit. They were obviously looking the other way at the atrocities he'd committed and calling him some kind of 'visionary.' Again: Bull. Shit. The underground villain industry had boomed, a bunch of puny knockoffs claiming the Hero Killer's philosophy and taking on Pros way out of their league. That made me pause. If villains were being this bold, then we were going to have a problem.

The flight to Endeavor's Agency from Hosu was a little harder than I thought it would be. There was some kind of weird ache in my wing, and my Quirk- I'd tried to banish a headwind- was acting up- I'd ended up making it worse. I felt really out of sorts, and kind of like I needed to punch something.

Todoroki was already in Endeavor's training room when I got there. I changed back into the combat gear- black on black with double buns- and met him there. His eyebrows shot up as I walked in, "That's a really bad scar." I started, quickly looking as best I could back at my wing, "Where?!" He stuck his finger at my shoulder. Sure enough, a short (maybe four or five centimeters), jagged scar slashed across my otherwise unblemished skin. "Dammit!" I snapped, running my fingertips over the raised skin, "I'm gonna kill that bastard!" Then with a sigh and a wistful pout, "No more off-shoulder dresses for me." Todoroki rolled his eyes. "This is serious," I whined, "They're the only type of dress that looks _good_ with wings." He shrugged, "It makes you look tough, I guess." I made a whiny noise as Endeavor stomped in.

His flaming eyebrows shot up (the similarities between father and son were so cute!), and he grumbled, "Well. We have much to discuss now that both of you are back." He crossed the room and turned off his flame face, bright red hair replacing the blaze. The room seemed colder almost immediately. "We're going to spar. If either of you two can beat me, you'll have the rest of the day off," he boomed, the rest of his fire flickering away. I blew air through my teeth, "And if we don't?" His icy gaze met mine, "You'll be training till you drop dead with exhaustion." I raised an eyebrow as Todoroki swung his leg over the ring's divider. Endeavor stepped in after him. I folded my arms and paced around to face Todoroki. Something way too deep burned in his eyes. My gaze flicked between them, "I'm not sure who to root for." Endeavor grumbled and Todoroki's mouth twitched, but his eyes didn't leave his dad.

Todoroki moved first, a red and white blur barreling into Endeavor. I jumped out of the way as Endeavor blocked and they slid back through the ropes. The sad, dangling ends caught on their legs as Todoroki tried to sweep Endeavor's legs out from underneath him. His leg slammed into Endeavor's, but the man didn't move at all. I winced as Endeavor practically batted Todoroki aside like a little kid. An involuntary "HEY!" burst out of my mouth as Endeavor's watermelon-sized fist connected with Todoroki's stomach. Todoroki landed hard on his knees, heaving and gasping for breath. Tears ran down his face.

"The hell is wrong with you?!" I fumed, "That's your _kid_, asshole!" I jerked a hand at Todoroki, who was doing his best to sit up. Endeavor didn't have any kind of expression on his face, "He was weak, so he was punished." I kneeled down next to him and rested a hand on his shoulder, using my other hand and my wing to steady him, glaring at Endeavor, "I don't give a fuck how weak or strong he is, and in my opinion, he's pretty badass. He's literally your legacy, sir! What right do you have to do that to him?" Endeavor crossed his arms, "Don't tell me how to raise a strong son. Your turn."

I left Todoroki on the floor and jumped over the ragged remains of the ropes of the ring. Endeavor cocked his head like an inquisitive puppy (wow, not my best metaphor) as I bounced on my toes. I looked for any kind of opening, but Endeavor was built like a brick wall. Da-a-a-ammit. I was seriously doubting my choice to sass the number two Hero when he took a huge step forward, covering easily half the distance between us. That was when I noticed his hips. He was favoring the right side. Had he just taken a bad step?

With a savage grin, I feinted, thankfully eliciting a reaction, and nailed my heel into the joint. I thought I'd gotten him until his hand wrapped around my ankle and yanked me off my feet. Thankfully, after a pretty embarrassing yelp, I was able to twist away and land back on my feet. Ok. Now he was getting on my nerves. I planted my hands on my hips and cracked my neck as Endeavor nursed his hip which I had probably just injured severely.

Todoroki was back on his feet, and he popped up next to me. "So, uh," I muttered, "Will you be mad if I karate-chop your dad?" Todoroki grunted. Well alright then. I darted forward at the same time as Todoroki and we each took a side. I was on the left again, and I targeted Endeavor's hip. Wow was old age convenient. Unfortunately for us, Endeavor's huge hands stopped us in our tracks. His palm went straight into my face, and my head cracked back. Blood ran down my face as I staggered back. I licked my lips and wiped my hands on my shirt. Todoroki's tank top was caught in Endeavor's fist. I took that as an opportunity to wrap my wings around his other arm and yank him off balance. With Todoroki pushing on the other side, we FINALLY managed to knock him over. I sat on his back until he grumbled, "Get off."

I whooped and pumped my fist in the air. Even Todoroki looked semi-pleased with himself. Endeavor turned his flames back on and sent us home with another grumble. "Hey," Todoroki said on the way to change. I looked over my shoulder, dabbing the last of the blood from my nose, "What?" He scowled, "Thank you. I've never been able to best my father in combat before." I stuck out my tongue, "Four fists are better than two. ALSO, my family wants you to come to dinner tonight. My dad made too many okonomiyaki for my family. Don't know how he did that- we have nine people- but he wants you to swing by."

Todoroki looked at me through his white eyelashes, "Sure. Beats cold cereal by myself." I paused, "Dude. That's just sad." So I walked with him to the train station and flew as close as I could to the train as it lanced through the countryside. When we arrived at our apartment building, we were greeted by six pint-sized tuxedos. "The hell are you doing?" I hissed to Taine. "Dad said we had to be fancy 'cuz he made dinner for your-" and I swear he _screeched_ this- "_**BOYFRIEND!" **_My face was probably tomato-red, and Todoroki didn't look much better.

I turned around, blocking my fake-kissing brothers with my wings and blushing up a storm, "I am _so_ sorry. I had no idea they would do this-" Todoroki cut me off with, "It's fine. My siblings wouldn't be much better." I tried to cover up my mortification with, "You have siblings?" He held up three on his fingers. My brothers clamped their little hands on my arms and the hem of Todoroki's jean jacket and dragged us into the house. Our house looked completely normal, except for my evening gown-clad mother draped over the back of the loveseat. The shiny golden sequins on her dress caught the light as she stood up, fluttering over to further embarrass me and fawn over Todoroki. My dad soon emerged from the kitchen in full-chef garb, puffy hat included.

It was kind of hard not to melt with embarrassment as my family plunked Todoroki at the head of the table and dug in, asking him awkward questions about school. So when he finished (I hadn't, mind you), I let him say thanks to my family and _dragged _that boi out of my house. Then I actually bowed to him and apologized seven hundred times for… well, my family. "It's fine," he said contemplatively, staring at the sky, "That was kind of a nice change from my family. I love them, but sometimes there's just that missing… energy, I guess." I nodded, "Sometimes my brothers are a bit much though." I jerked my thumb over my shoulder to the six faces pressed against an upstairs window.

Todoroki chuckled, saluting the boys. I gasped in fake shock, "Did you just _laugh_?" He shrugged, a smile still on his face, "I've had a good day today. Pretty rare." Cue the several-minute-long awkward silence. "Well," I said, probably a little too loud, "Thanks so much for putting up with me again today. I'll see you tomorrow?" Todoroki smiled and walked off into the night. Something weird and warm and cringey flushed across my face as I made my way back into the house. My mom was passed out on the couch, my dad next to her on the floor. My brothers were in bed, too (they'd changed out of their little suits). I was kind of bummed that they weren't up for me to yell at them.

I went to bed, too, but I kept thinking about the day. And Todoroki. Wow I was being so stupid. To summarize the day, I was pretty sure I'd just made a new best friend. And a tiny voice in the back of my head kept hoping that he was something more, but I dismissed that as hormones. And as I drifted off to sleep, the last thought that came into my head was how hard Bakugo would laugh at me if I told him how ridiculous I was being.

* * *

**Okay, I know this is short and fluffy, but bear with me, I'm writing the Two Heroes movie for next week (get hyped, it's gonna be fucking awesome!). Also I'm still trying to figure out any shipping information here. I was going to start with Bakugo- but the personalities would clash, I think- and Todoroki is just so damn hard to write for 'cuz sometimes he's an ass and sometimes he's a big brother. Please let me know which you would prefer and I may or may not take that into account!**

**Sorry again~ The Graceful Egg**


	8. (8) Two Heroes

My mom woke me up the next morning. Apparently, she'd been wanting to talk to me for days, but I was never around anymore. She perched softly on the end of my bed as I wrestled a brush through my hair. "Sweetheart," she said hesitantly. I glanced over, a hair tie clenched in my teeth. "Well, it's just that… I'm worried about you. About what you want to do," she paused and searched my face, "You've been to the hospital twice in the last couple of weeks. The second time, you were pretty badly hurt. I don't want you doing this Hero thing if you're going to get hurt so much." I opened my mouth to protest, but she held up a hand and stopped me with a glare. Then her blue eyes softened, "You know we all love you, honey. You're so tired, lately, too. Every day, you come home, stuff your face, shower, and pass out. Maybe we get a smooch. Besides last night, that was the most we saw of you."

Pink rose in my cheeks as last night's memory freshened in my mind. Ugh, so embarrassing! "With your internship's last day being today, I want you to remember us, okay? Don't forget about the people who mean the most." She stood up and made for the door, all long legs and perfect grace, but paused with her hand on the doorknob, "Also, the trash needs to go out." I groaned as she shut it gently behind her.

When I was all dressed (in a powder blue sundress that had a plunging back for my wings, a shit ton of costume golden bracelets and armbands with a set of matching lightning-shaped earrings, and a pair of white sandals), I made my way to the bathroom to do my hair. Today, I was doing a press conference with Endeavor and Todoroki. All part of being a Hero, right? I settled on two low pigtails and a jagged golden headband for my hair. Actually, it was getting a little long, almost brushing my chin. I'd have to get it cut at some point.

On the flight to the Agency, my stomach was all tied up in knots. "Did I look professional enough?" "How many pictures would they be taking?" And other unhelpful questions bounced around in my skull. They finally went away as I landed and tucked my adorable (gold-studded, it has to match the jewelry) white clutch under my arm. The lobby was absolutely swarming with cameras and microphones as I barged through the crowd. Endeavor and Todoroki were already seated at a huge three-person desk at the center of it all, clad in impeccable matching suits. I plopped down in my chair, "Sorry I'm late, Endeavor-sensei," I chirped, smoothing down some awry feathers. Endeavor grunted as a camera flash went off a few meters away.

Endeavor said through gritted teeth to us, "Look pretty. Say nothing." I nodded fervently, plastering a sparkling grin on my face. Todoroki managed to not-scowl. As the press began rattling off their questions, I kind of zoned out. After all, it's kind of hard to focus when you're not doing anything.

"Miss Arashi? Miss Arashi!"

I snapped back to the real world, surprised to see a microphone centimeters from my face. The news lady on the other side was red-faced and breathless, "How do you explain the violent weather seen on the night of the Hero Killer's attack? Were you there? Did you see the man up close?" I swallowed and looked to Endeavor, who was clearly _not_ pleased that a news lady had climbed up on his table. He looked down his nose, _Watch what you say. _I put on my best PR smile, "Well, I was patrolling with Endeavor, ma'am. When the Hero Killer attacked, Endeavor was able to take him down pretty easily. The weather was responding to my upset mood, but there wasn't any real damage done." I batted my mascara-clumpy eyelashes, hoping that she would leave me the hell alone.

How wrong I was.

"But," she pressed on, "The Hero Killer's wounds were described as intense burns- electrical burns- and-" I smiled, a tiny bit of danger leaking into my expression. My patented _I'm going to do lasting damage to your spine if you say another word_ smile. My voice dripped with false sweetness as I drawled, "Well, ma'am, lots of burns look alike. I'd be happy to show you if you'd prefer." Her eyes got wide, and her mouth opened and closed like a fish before she clambered off the table and meekly skittered away.

I glanced over to Endeavor. His eyebrows were raised and a tiny ghost of a smile was on his lips. Was he _happy_ that I had just threatened a news person? The rest of the conference flew by, and no one else tried to ask me any questions. Todoroki got a few, but besides that we were silent.

We met Endeavor in his office afterward. The lights were actually on for once, but Endeavor still glowed like a candle. "Thank you," Endeavor boomed, "For joining my Agency for the week and growing as Heroes and people." He stood and bowed slightly, flames licking at the ceiling. Todoroki and I bowed in unison, "Thank you, Endeavor-sensei!"

The rest of the day flew (heh, bird pun) by. Burnin gave us our training clothes to take home, and we got a little patch to go on our costumes that signified that we were once with Endeavor Agency. Mine were tiny golden flame buttons on the high collar of my bodysuit. Todoroki's was a blaze of red crawling up his sleeve. Endeavor bid us farewell without a word as Burnin whisked us to the train station. "Thanks for a hell of a week," I said to Todoroki as Burnin's motorcycle screamed away from the curb. He nodded, offering me his hand. I took it, duh, and shook it obnoxiously hard, "See ya on Monday, ice cube." I saluted him and took off, beelining for home.

And…

Nobody was home.

So much for family time.

I did, however, get a text from the group chat. A few of the girls were going to a place called I-Island for a support item expo. Momo's dad had received an invitation, and she got a few plus-ones to bring along. She picked me, Uraraka, and Jiro. And cue the snowflakes. I brushed a centimeter of snow from my laptop and quickly Boogled the island. A support-item and Quirk-research paradise. Nice.

So when my parents got home, I was immediately on them. Mom brought up our discussion from earlier. That stung a bit, but I was too devious to be defeated. "But, Mom," I whined, "Support items can keep me safer!" Quick glance between the parents. _She's got a point._ Finally, they relented! I packed my suitcase and lifted off to I-Island the next morning.

My brothers insisted I video-chat with them the whole flight there, so I pulled my phone out of my cargo pants and rung them up. I couldn't really hear them over the wind, but it was nice to see their adorable faces. For two hours, I sped my flight along with a probably-too-powerful wind until I saw the colorful man-made shore of I-Island.

The girls were waiting at the airport, dressed in their costumes. A customs official with the head of a goat pointed me to a bathroom so I could change. My costume went on again, and I met them on the unloading ramp. "Hey gorls!" I screeched, skidding to a stop next to them. Uraraka jumped and Momo facepalmed, but Jiro gave me a fist bump for my efforts. "I'm so excited I'm so excited I'm so excited I'm so excited!" I mumbled as we made our way to the expo itself.

Fireworks exploded over huge arena-like buildings that sparkled in the sun. The paths were lined with fragrant flowers in every color of the rainbow. I paused to pick a few and shove them into the girls' hair against their will. Momo got a red one, Uraraka a pink one, Jiro a purple one, and I got a yellow one. We walked through the modern city streets, gawking at Heroes and items advertised in store windows. People all around were "Oooooh" and "Aaaaahhh"-ing at the same items we were.

We wandered around for a while until the girls decided on the building they wanted to go into. The sign blazed above us in bright neon letters. "Personal Vehicles." I hesitated at the entrance. Momo paused, "Aren't you coming?" I stuck my lip out in a pout, "You guys know I can't use _literally_ any of those, right?" Jiro shrugged, "They're still cool to look at, I guess." I grumbled and followed them in, "Fine." They wandered around pointing at shiny personal jets and sleek submarines, me tagging along like a lost puppy. The only invention I thought was cool was a hoverboard with stylized lightning blazing across its deck. Momo had to drag me away as I tried to hand the man advertising it a wad of bills.

"Hey," Uraraka said, cutting through the drone of the crowd, "Is that Deku?" I poked my head around Momo's ponytail, "Deku? Like, Midoriya?" Sure enough, he and a blonde-haired girl were talking across the room near a diving suit display. Jiro plugged her earphone jacks into a pillar. "Don't you think it's rude to eavesdrop?" I asked. None of them responded. "Oh my gosh, guys. Let's go say hi!" I herded them with my arms and wings (more like shoved, to be honest) over to Midoriya and the girl. Uraraka went ahead to greet them. I tried to hide behind Momo, but I was half a head taller than her and it didn't really work. And my wings made me easily twice as broad. "Hey, Haruto?" Jiro piped up. I made a "hmm?" noise. "What was all that a couple nights ago? There was some crazy weather and I heard there was a lot of lightning. Then Endeavor manages to snare the Hero Killer. You okay?" I blushed and semi-subconsciously rubbed my scarred shoulder, "Well, yeah. It's still kind of sensitive. I'd be happy to talk with you guys about it once all the media stuff's blown over."

She shrugged and thankfully let it be. I not-so-gently squirmed my way past and bounced over to the blonde girl, offering my hand in a standard American greeting. "Hi!" I chirped in (heavily accented) English, "I'm Arashi Ha- wait, Haruto Arashi! I always forget that your names are in a different order, and-" She smiled, taking my hand gently, "It's totally fine," she responded in Japanese, "I'm surprised how fluent you are in English! I'm Melissa." I grinned, shaking her hand vigorously, "Thanks, my mom's American. It's a real pleasure to meet you, Melissa!" She bowed kind of awkwardly, her hair flopping into her face, then straightened up crookedly. "How do y'all do that so much? It hurts my back?" I smiled and shrugged.

Melissa ended up taking us to a Hero-themed cafe around the corner from the transportation building. I got an Endeavor coffee, which was boiling hot and spicy as hell. As I choked and hacked on my drink, the girls were warming up to Melissa really nicely. Midoriya was talking to a pair of waiters that looked strangely familiar… holy shit! It was Kaminari and Mineta! They were gawking at Melissa as none other than Iida sprinted up to our table. I don't know why I was surprised anymore. Giving them a half-hearted hello, my focus snapped to an explosion in the distance. "Hey Momo?" I said, shifting my head on my hand to look in the direction of the sound, "Didn't the guidebook say there was an obstacle course?"

I flew overhead as the group (besides Mineta and Kaminari, they still had jobs to do) went to explore. Okay, sign. Me. Up. There was a mini landform with robots stationed sporadically around it, someone blasting from one to another with… explosions. Now Bakugo was here, too? So was Kirishima, apparently. The lady at the foot of the mountain raised her hand to the crowd, "First place!" she squealed into her microphone. Bakugo swaggered into the stands. As he began yelling at our classmates, I lined up to take a shot at the course. The lady balked a little at my height, but waved me forward nonetheless. I bounced on my toes as the timer clicked down. Then I became a blur.

My lightning whips appeared in my hands, and a tiny storm raged above. Lightning and my whips decimated the robots as I soared above, darting through the air. I landed with a thump next to the lady as the first drops of rain plopped onto our cheeks. The last robot fell to its knees as the sun poked out again. I coiled my whips and nocked them onto my hips as the lady announced my score. Fifteen seconds. Not half bad. I flew back over to where my class was clustered on the stands. Bakugo looked like he wanted to blow my brains to the moon. As I landed with a thump, I made a face, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He stomped up, so that his snarl was centimeters from my face, "How the hell did you get that time? First Deku, now _you_." I shrugged, flashing my canines in a dangerous grin, "Maybe I was holding back. I know I could do better than _that_." His face flushed crimson as his mouth opened to retort, but the lady shouted another time. Fourteen seconds. This time, both Bakugo and I were hauling ass over to whoever the time belonged to. Todoroki. Was the whole damn class here? Bakugo was all up in his face, demanding to know why he was there and how the hell Todoroki had beaten his score. I eventually shoved in between them, squishing in my wings to press them apart. Bakugo kept trying to shove past, and Kirishima had to come help me hold him back.

When Bakugo finally cooled off (with a stinging blast of rain from yours truly), I knocked a knuckle on the top of his head, "Can you _not_ try to kill anyone on vacation, please?" He growled, "Damn half-'n'-half bastard. Damn time. Damn you." I elbowed him in the ribs, a smile spreading on my face, "Well damn you, too, sparkles." He returned my smile. One of his teeth was chipped. So even the invincible sparkles came away from fights unscathed.

I met back up with Midoriya, Melissa and the girls just as they were leaving the stadium. "Hey, Arashi!" Melissa chirped, "Your Quirk is amazing!" Then she paused and turned to the group, "So I know Arashi's and Deku's, but what are yours?" I piped up, "You can call me Haruto!" But no one was paying attention. Momo Created a little nesting doll and handed it to Melissa as Jiro plugged her jacks into her phone and pumped metal music through the speakers on her boots. Melissa's face lit up with excitement when Ochaco tapped her shoulder and she wobbled up. I took off to steady her, flying her in a slow lap above the group. She giggled and whooped the whole way back to the ground.

As we walked past the cafe from earlier, Melissa paused to give Kaminari and Mineta tickets to the gala later that night. Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for said gala. Iida demanded that we be back in the lobby by 1830 sharp. I checked my watch. It was only about 1700 anyway. So I took a power nap when the girls and I got up to our room. I was out for about half an hour before Momo shook me awake and shoved a dress in my face.

It was a black, sleeveless, off-shoulder dress with a flouncy skirt that brushed my knees. I mumbled a thanks before stumbling to the bathroom and pulling it on. And what do you know? My scar was like the feature piece of the whole damn ensemble. I moped out, and the girls descended on me like a storm cloud. "What's that?" Ochaco asked innocently, pointing at my shoulder. I cringed, "I was injured on a patrol with Endeavor." _Please don't ask any more questions. _"Were you there when he caught the Hero Killer?" Jiro echoed. I noped back into the bathroom, "Yes, but I had _absolutely_ nothing to do with it. Goodbye!" Taking the excuse to put on my costume jewelry from the press conference and do my hair and makeup gave me an extra few minutes of solitude. I braided a little headband of my hair with a gold ribbon and lined my eyes with a stupid amount of black eyeliner and shimmery gold eyeshadow. Then I wound one of my sparking whips around my waist like a belt, completing my outfit.

Ochaco was adorable in a fluffy pink dress and an obnoxiously large bow. Jiro looked as metal as ever with her studded leather jacket and high tops. Momo looked like a goddamn model in a mint green evening gown. And of course, I looked ready to go pound someone to a pulp like I always did. We trooped down to the lobby, where Midoriya and Iida were already waiting. Both of them were in tuxes, but Midoriya's looked a little too big. Kaminari and Mineta appeared, still in their waiting uniforms (which were snazzy black and white suits). Iida was pissed that Todoroki, Bakugo, and Kirishima hadn't shown up and didn't text him or anything to imply that they were going to the party at all. Finally, Melissa came out of the elevator in a cute cornflower blue dress with a sweetheart neckline.

My phone beeped. I pulled it out of the secret pocket in my dress. My dad was here! I sent an angry text back somewhere along the lines of: "Why didn't you tell me?!" So, apparently, he was called on reserve a few hours ago by Sir Nighteye to come represent his Agency, because Sir Nighteye was too introverted to show up himself. As we waited in the lobby, an emergency klaxon blared over PAs. Somewhere on the island, there was an explosive device, and everything was going into lockdown. I put my phone away as huge steel sheets slid over the doors and windows, effectively trapping us in the lobby. We backed into each other. "What the hell?" I grumbled. Melissa was trembling a lot. Uraraka wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she said, "This isn't standard protocol for explosive devices."

I nodded, "Something's wrong, isn't it?" Then I groaned, "Can't we ever get a day off?" The elevators weren't working either. It was like someone had cut power to the whole damn building. Melissa led us to some emergency stairs as the A/C turned off. It was blistering hot in a few minutes. Todoroki intercepted us on the stairs, wearing the same suit he'd worn at the press conference. His icy aura really helped turn down the heat. Eventually, we came to a landing near a balcony overlooking the gala. I flew Jiro and Midoriya up, so we could look down at the ballroom.

Holy.

Fucking.

Shit.

Every visiting Pro was restrained by some kind of advanced laser rope things, and masked people with machine guns and rifles paced around the terrified partygoers. A tall dude with a metal face mask was leading two men away at gunpoint. "Hey," I whispered, "Isn't that Melissa's dad?" Midoriya leaned forward, little puffs of his breath fogging the glass. "And… my dad," I said, softer that time. He was tied with more glowy junk than the other Heroes. The wings and his temper made sure of that. He was actually spouting off at a nearby gunman, pulling at the ropes. That's my dad. Midoriya signaled All Might (who was restrained on the floor) with the reflection of my whip's glow in his phone screen, and Jiro plugged into the floor so All Might could whisper to us. The villain (the metal mask dude) had taken over the island's wicked powerful security system. Everyone on the island was a hostage. I smiled ruefully, "Except us." Midoriya returned my expression as I flew them back down.

Midoriya quickly briefed everyone else as to what was going on. All Might wanted us to bail and go find help. Like. Hell. Everyone quickly agreed not to fight the villains head-on. "We don't want a Stain situation," I muttered, rubbing my shoulder, "And besides, anyone who's not combat-ready would be in danger." Uraraka and Melissa nodded. "Should I fly back to the mainland and look for help?" I asked softly as a tentative plan was made (get to the top floor where the security system was and shut it down so the Pros could take over). Todoroki appeared at my side, "We'll need your size and speed later. But be ready." I nodded with a grunt.

So began the long trek up 200 flights of stairs. Mineta lagged behind most of the way, but Iida, Midoriya, Todoroki, and I led the pack. If anyone tried to stop us (which was unlikely. No one in the building would be taking the stairs this high up), we'd be the best line of defense. We kept going until we reached the eightieth floor. "It's blocked!" I breathed in disbelief. A huge metal wall blocked off the entire hallway. I balled my fists, "Should I blow it open?" Melissa shook her head, "It'll alert the security system." Mineta said from behind us, "What about this door?"

Before Melissa could stop him, he pulled a lever and opened a door to a smooth metal hallway. A little red light blinked on almost immediately. I moved forward and grabbed the front of his suit, "You idiot!" I growled, "You just told them exactly where we are!" I threw him to the ground as everyone else sprinted for a door at the end of the hall. He scrambled after them. "Wait! Wait!" I shouted, pointing to the walls, "Are those electric barricades?" Melissa looked up, "Yes. Why?" I grinned, "Close the door if you value your brains." With a quick billion volts, the hallway's security system was completely (and probably permanently) disabled. We ran through the hallway to the door.

It led out into some kind of botany lab. The walls were crawling with every species of plant imaginable. "Look!" Jiro said, pointing to the other side of the room, "The elevator's coming up this way!" I glanced up, "I can hide everyone in the trees!" With everyone safely concealed in the thick leaves of a huge oak tree, we held our breaths as two villain grunts emerged. "We see you, stupid kids," one of them snapped. We froze. What would we do? "I could tell you the same thing," a familiar voice growled back. "It's Bakugo!" I hissed as he and Kirishima wandered into view. The situation quickly deteriorated, and Todoroki and I joined a fight with the grunts. One had some kind of matter manipulation Quirk, and the other one was suddenly a hulking monster.

"Can I fry them?" I deadpanned as Kirishima was flung into a nearby wall. Todoroki grunted as he used an ice block to lift everyone else to safety, "We're not allowed to fight them. You _know_ what happened last time." I whined back, "I know I'm on thin ice, but it's just two guys. And Bakugo's blowing the big one up!" He glared at me from the corner of his eye, "Don't." I grinned, then shouted, "Hey, idiots! Get off the floor!" I grabbed my whip from my dress and summoned my other one. Wind whipped around the room as I spun them over my head, whooping and laughing, before slamming them onto the villains and giving them a tiny (ha! Understatement of the century) shock.

I dusted my hands off on my skirt as the boys staggered back to their feet, dismissing both of my whips. Todoroki did not look pleased, "You had a weapon the whole time?" I gasped in fake shock, "You didn't?" Even Bakugo looked mildly surprised. After retrieving Kirishima, who was stuck in the wall (he just had to turn off his Quirk. Stupid.), Bakugo blew a hole in the side of the building and I flew them up to the next landing. Huge turbines sat in rows on the secondary roof of the tower. "Wow," Kirishima quavered, "We're up really high." I smiled coyly and grabbed his arm, "Are you… scared of heights?" He swallowed, and Bakugo barked a laugh. Our little moment was cut short when we heard a scream.

My eyes snapped to the sky. None other than Midoriya and Melissa were flying up through the air toward a flimsy-looking catwalk. "I have to help!" I shouted. Uraraka was facing off against a huge squad of security robots. The boys made quick work of them as I flew up to help Midoriya and Melissa. Midoriya punched a hole in the wall, and I dropped them in, following them into a stairwell. I braced my hands on my knees as my head pounded. Whew, was I near my time limit! "Are you guys okay?" I panted. Midoriya and Melissa nodded shakily, staggering to their feet. I was pretty sure we were safe until someone slammed Midoriya out the window. I was able to throw my wings in front of Melissa just as a blade arced down on her. A grunt burst out of my throat as the blade bit into my wing. "What the hell?" I growled, grabbing the arm it belonged to and soundly breaking it. The man cried out and staggered back, cradling his arm.

Midoriya swung himself back inside and smashed that fucker into the nearest wall. "Are you okay?!" he practically screeched at Melissa. She nodded, showing off a cut on her arm. I kicked the unconscious body of the attacker, "Damned bastard. He must have caught you before I blocked it." She stuck her tongue out at his mangled arm, "How did you learn to do that?" My only response was, "Don't worry about it." Midoriya and Melissa went ahead as I thoroughly restrained the villain. I only stopped when I heard gunshots. And I've never run so fast in my life. Midoriya was pinned to the wall of a huge, open room with ribbons of metal, and Melissa was on the ground, blood leaking from her nose. The two men I'd seen earlier were also on the ground. One was groaning in pain, clutching at his shoulder. The other one…

I didn't want to think about it.

The metal mask dud was there again, and he was clearly the big issue here. "Midoriya!" I shouted, "Are you okay?!" He opened his mouth to respond, but another ribbon of metal slapped over his mouth. Oooookaaaay. I was starting to lose my cool. I turned slowly, adjusting one of my bracelets and some of the rings on my fingers, "Hello, sir," I said cordially, striding toward him. His hand hovered over the metal wall. Ah. A metal-manipulation Quirk. I couldn't help the ghost of a smile that appeared on my lips. I probably looked like a crazy person, my hair wild, black makeup smeared around my eyes, a streak of red across my chest from where blood from my wing had splattered. "If you don't mind," I said, a bit of danger leaking into my tone, "I'm going to ask you to surrender yourself." A feral, savage grin crossed my face, "_Please_."

"I've heard about you," he responded, keeping his hand steady, "You're the one who took down Stain. The Thunderbird." I spread my hands grandly, bowing slightly, "The one and only... You know that if you don't cooperate that I'm going to have to hurt you, right?" He chuckled, raising a tiny pistol at me, "You can try." The first shot might as well have been a joke. I sidestepped it easily and took a few long steps forward. Midoriya was struggling like a champ in the back of the room, and I could hear him tear some of the metal. Lightning sparked at my fingertips and the corners of my eyes as I got closer to the still-firing villain. If he hit me…

I tried something I never had before. Blood ran through veins, right? So why couldn't lightning? A bullet fizzled as it struck my collarbone, a little streak of ash marring my dress. "Well. You've just crossed a line, my friend. No one. Ruins. My. Clothes!" I roared, finally moving fast. The lightning I'd woven through my body was powerful. _Electric_. I was moving faster than I ever had. My whips came to me like a second thought as I charged forward. I kicked one of my high heels at the guy, and the spike dragged across his cheek, leaving a crimson stripe. A laugh burst out of my throat as more bullets made contact with my power, only to be incinerated. I knew I was heating up the room with all my electricity, but I went cold when the barrel of the villain's gun swung toward Melissa.

Midoriya finally broke free and scooped up Melissa as a bullet tore through the air. I took that as a cue to swing my remaining heel into the villain's side. And I almost made it. "Dammit!" I screamed as a spike of metal stabbed straight through my leg. Lightning sizzled down it, electrifying most of the floor. The villain jerked and convulsed some, but used his spike to fling me into the air. A huge wall followed me, blocking Midoriya from attacking, and slamming into my back.

Melissa bolted for the door. Midoriya went with her (to keep the villain's lackeys off of her back), while I kept on the villain. "You don't know how to fucking give up!" I snarled, my whips swirling toward the villain. Two pillars thrust out of the walls. With a quick glance making sure that Melissa and Midoriya were out of range, I electrified the whole damn room. That was enough. Just enough time.

The villain decided to make the worst mistake of his life right then.

That goddamned fucker decided to shoot me.

The bullet went straight into my thigh, burning pain following it. Tears streamed down my face as a cry ripped out of my throat. I struck the guy with a blast of wind as he turned to focus on Midoriya, chucking him into the wall. Midoriya was trapped under a pile of metal, so I landed and used wind to pry it off of him. The villain scurried off, hiking the unconscious guy over his shoulder. Once Midoriya was free, I used my wings to help him up, "C'mon, hotshot," I coughed, cutting off my sentence, "They took Melissa's dad." He struggled to his feet. "Why don't we fly up and say hello?" Midoriya nodded, blinking blood out of his eyes.

I ripped (yet another) hole in the tower wall and carried him out and _up_. A military helicopter was parked on the roof, and the villains were piling into it. When we set down, I hopped awkwardly before tripping over myself and face-planting. Midoriya was already up and running at the villain. "Deku!" I shouted, my voice raw, "If you can get Melissa's dad out, I can fry 'em for ya!" I muscled myself to my feet, favoring my uninjured leg. The rotor on the helicopter was already spinning, so I used wind to rip that sucker off. Surprised shouts issued from the cockpit as the rotor sliced into the side of the chopper.

Midoriya (wait, no. He deserved his Hero name.)- Deku, was launched backward by another combination of pillar attacks from the villain. I used the temporary distraction to launch into the air, a _helluva_ storm brewing above me. This guy wasn't going to be taken down by a bunch of damned kitten tickles. I tucked in my wings and dove toward the open doors of the helicopter as sharp sleet lanced through the sky. With a swift scoop, I nabbed the unconscious scientist and circled back. But not before a pillar rammed me to the side. Damn was this guy fast.

Metal cords yanked Melissa's dad away from me and vice-gripped my wings. "Shit!" I cried, sending powerful electricity down the wires, but they severed before I could do any damage. I fell for a solid five seconds before landing- hard- on the roof.

Blink. Fuck. Blink. Better. I sat up groggily, scanning the shitfest before me. It was like the whole damn tower was alive and angry as hell. Oh boy. Ice and explosions popped up periodically. Todoroki and Bakugo were here. I could see the rest of the class huddled on an outcrop. Melissa was laying horrifyingly still on another. I struggled to my feet, hissing as my weight landed on my injured leg. Someone landed next to me, ducking under my arm and hoisting it over their shoulders. "The hell are you doing?" I growled, trying and failing miserably to pull away. "Saving your ass," Bakugo snapped back. He helped me hobble over to the other students. Iida took most of my weight as Bakugo blasted off again. "I have to help!" I protested. Iida shoved me down, "Sit down before you bleed out. All Might and our classmates have it under control." As if some kind of glorious fate was in play, All Might and Deku slammed the villain into next year.

Bakugo reappeared, missing most of his shirt, and half-dragged me to a nearby emergency room with Kirishima. Thankfully, the bullet had missed the bone in my leg, and the lady with the healing Quirk was able to fix me up nicely. I was missing my shoes, and both of the boys were missing chunks of their shirts and jackets, but we were otherwise fine. When they deposited me back at my hotel, I bowed to them, even though both of them were younger than me, "I really appreciate it, guys. Y'know, the whole saving my sorry ass business." Kirishima was flustered, but Bakugo scoffed, "The only payment _I_ want is to never let you live this down!" I absolutely gaped as Kirishima snorted. Then both of them stopped laughing suddenly and took a couple steps back. "The hell, guys? I'm not _that_ scary," I offered. Their eyes looked decisively up. Oh.

I turned around to see my dad towering over me. "Were you ever gonna tell me that you went and got yourself _shot_, Haruto?" I winced, looking over my shoulder to the boys, "if you value your lives, _run_." Kirishima waved as he and Bakugo speed-walked away. "What are you doin', kid?" Papa said tiredly, "After the Stain incident-" I cut him off, wincing harder, "I _know_, Papa. It won't happen again." He sighed, running a hand through his hair, "Why in hell are you so reckless?" I smiled cheekily, "I learned from the best!" He knocked his knuckle on my head, "Go back to your hotel, kid. We're flyin' home tomorrow at 0800 hours." I mock-saluted him, pivoting on my bare feet, "Yessir!" He guffawed as I marched off into the night.

* * *

**Okay, this ran shorter than I expected. Can't wait to get back into the main storyline, too.**


	9. Chapter 9

Going back to school seemed more like a half-formed dream than an actual happening. My uniform felt strange against my skin. My leg was sore as hell, and my wing was still bandaged from the Stain incident after I ripped the stitches open at I-Island. So, you can guess I was pretty miserable on my *walk* to school. Papa had forbidden me from flying until all of my injuries were gone, and then for a week after that because my ass was grounded. He'd even confiscated my phone, for hell's sake.

I did, however, manage to get to school well before the bell rang. As I plopped into my seat, I took off my blazer and wiped beads of sweat off my face with the sleeve of my blouse. Someone sat down softly at the desk on my right. I glanced over, too lazy to turn my head. Bakugo. "Hey," I mumbled. He grumbled, "Are you o-kay?" He ground it through gritted teeth, like he was being forced to say it. I turned my head, smiling lazily, "Fine, I suppose." Then I saw it. His _HAIR! _I burst out laughing at the smooth (almost shiny), combed dome on his head. Kirishima and Sero soon joined me in cackling at Bakugo's hair. "The hell did Jeanist do to you?" I wheezed through tears, "Use napalm as hair gel?" Bakugo hauled Kirishima and Sero off of their feet as his hair exploded (quite literally) back into his spikes.

I decided to busy myself with bothering Iida. Heaving myself out of my chair, I plodded over. He, Todoroki, and Midoriya were doing some kind of staring contest fueled by testosterone. I squished myself into the middle, perching on the corner of Todoroki's desk. Iida sighed, but didn't bother yelling at me. "How are you today?" I asked boredly. Some mumbles. "Healing up alright?" Iida shoved his bandaged hands into his pockets. Todoroki leaned forward, hiding his arm under the desk. Midoriya clasped his hands behind his back. "Geez," I grumbled, "That well, huh?"

We looked up as Kaminari singled us out to the whole damn class. I scoffed, "Trust me, Pikachu, I haven't changed much." Sero added on to Kaminari, "Yeah, I heard about the Hero Killer." Kirishima echoed, "Yeah, you guys are pretty lucky you got out alive." Hagakure posed dramatically, "You're so lucky that Endeavor saved you! I'd expect nothing less from the number two Hero!" My temper flared, "_Saved?!_" Iida snagged my sleeve before I could say something stupid. Todoroki smiled, but it was very clear that it was a strained smile, "Yeah. He saved us." I glared at him over my shoulder. He glared back.

Sero sat on the desk next to Todoroki's, "Did you guys hear the news about the Hero Killer? Everyone's been saying that he was connected to the League of Villains." I shook Iida's hand off, "The dumbasses who attacked the USJ?'' He nodded gravely, "Can you imagine how bad it would have been if that creep had been there when they attacked the USJ?" Kaminari cut him off, "He's scary, yeah, but did you see him in that weird video? It's all over the internet." I perked up, "I didn't know there _was_ a video." Kaminari grinned, "Yeah! Stain's a pretty evil villain, but like, super tenacious. He's almost kind of cool, don't you guys think?"

Alright, I'm not super happy about my reaction to that, but I jumped up and balled the front of his shirt in my fist, a sudden storm raging outside, and slammed him into the wall. Lightning sparked through my hair and at the corners of my eyes. "Say that again, and we'll see who's tenacious," I snarled. He flinched, "Okay! I'm sorry! Dude…" I shoved him (hard), and retreated to my previous perch, glaring daggers at everyone. Midoriya whined at him. Iida stopped them short with, "No, Kaminari's right." I gasped, then whined exasperatedly, "_Iida!_"

"It is true that he was quite a tenacious villain. I understand why people think he was 'cool.' But instead of helping the world, he turned to cold-blooded murder," Iida murmured. I sighed, folding my arms. Kaminari had turned beet-red and slapped a hand over his mouth, cringing. Iida was kind of pale. Then he did his signature karate-chop and shouted, "But I promise to become the perfect Hero!" Midoriya whooped. I grinned and propped my head on my hand, "Badass!" Iida went and ruined it. "It's time for class to begin! Everyone please take your seats!" I sighed, jumping to my feet, "I revoke my badass," I grumbled. Scooching past everyone else was a bit of a challenge, but I made it to my seat before the bell.

The first class of the day was Hero basic training. Someone had retrieved my costume and fixed all of the little rips and tears in the fabric from the Stain incident. And there was a new feature! A golden utility belt with tiny steel magnets hiding in the packets. Someone needed a raise in the costume department. They were for scattering around a battle area so I could electrify the whole damn thing. I think I showed the girls the magnets too many times, because Momo eventually took me aside and told me to calm down. All Might was waiting for us at a new-looking facility.

Turns out, we were doing more rescue training! Everyone was back in their costumes except for Iida, whose armor was completely shattered and had to be repaired. Speaking of, his hand shot up, "Why aren't we training in the USJ?" All Might chuckled, "As I said, this is a race! The USJ focuses on disaster relief." I shivered, "And I don't want to go back there any time soon!" A few of my classmates grunted in agreement. All Might posed dramatically, "Now get ready! You're about to step into Field Gamma! Inside is an area full of factories that form an intricate labyrinth!" He winked, "Good luck finding your way around!" We were going to compete against four of our classmates at finding All Might hidden somewhere in the area.

All Might's pointer finger swiveled to Bakugo, "And let's keep the property damage to a minimum!" I snorted and leaned my elbow on his shoulder, "Guess you need those sparkles, after all!" Bakugo growled. All Might's smile (if possible) widened as he exclaimed, "All right! First team, to your places!"

I was in the first group, running against Midoriya, Iida, Sero, and Mina. All Might pulled me aside right before I took off, "Haruto!" I paused and saluted, "Yessir!" He looked me dead in the eye, "Think before you act! This course is tougher than it looks!" I held back an eye roll, "Yessir." He let me take off to my starting spot. I thought about what he said. Truth be told, I almost never think before I move. My feet practically think for themselves!

My spot was slightly farther away from All Might than the others', for a bit of an added challenge. Before All Might gave the signal to start, I did that lightning thing I'd done at I-Island, where I imagined it running through my veins. With a little zap, I was set. A good twenty meters of space around me was electrified, too. As the buzzer sounded for us to begin, I launched up like a rocket. A huge tailwind roared after me. With the boost from the lightning, I was basically moving as fast as I possibly could. I zoomed over Midoriya and Sero, who were roof-hopping. Midoriya was fast, sure, and so was Sero, but I felt like I was about to break the goddamn sound barrier. I landed in a tuck-and-roll and barreled into All Might. He begrudgingly handed me a ribbon sash embroidered with "Thanks for saving me!" I took it with a forced smile and draped it over my wings awkwardly. Uraraka and the rest of the class were huddled on a platform in front of a jumbo-tron where footage from my run was being displayed. The poor little drone camera couldn't keep up, and was blown into a wall by my gale.

The rest of the training flew by like nobody's business, and soon we were back in class. Aizawa moped onto his podium, "As you all know, it's almost time for summer vacation. But that doesn't mean that you get to relax for a month." I squished my face in my hands, slumping down in my chair. He continued, "You'll be training while you camp in the woods." Perking up again, I bounced a little in my seat, "Like… outdoors? With no hallways?!" He smiled a bit as the class chuckled. The class was actually getting pretty pumped up about the camping trip when Aizawa fired up his Quirk. That awful feeling shut us up pretty fast. "However, those of you who do not pass the final exam will have summer school." Kirishima leapt out of his chair, "Do your best, everyone!" I whooped and pumped my fist in the air.

So we went home to study for the written part of the exam. My brothers (thank whatever gods there were) left me alone all weekend to pore over textbooks and shovel ramen into my face.

Classical Japanese was my weakest subject, and it was mind-numbing. MIND-NUMBING. I passed third in the class, but it wasn't really the best I could do. Like at all. Momo was tutoring some people who did poorly, but I was relatively fine with my score, so there was nothing I could do.

At lunch, I sat with my usual buddies, but we had joined up with the rest of the class at a bigger table. "Ew!" I said, plopping down next to Todoroki, "Is that cold soba?" He looked up, chewed once, and nodded. I stuck my tongue out, "I can't stand it. All I can imagine is eating worms." Bakugo slammed down on my other side with a plate of steaming noodles laden with hot sauce. I dropped my elbows on the table and mashed my hands into my eyes, "Why can't you people just eat normal food?!" Uraraka giggled. Midoriya nodded, swallowing a bite of plain white rice. I gestured to him, "See! Midoriya understands!" Suddenly, a blonde boy marched past and elbowed Midoriya in the back of the head.

Midoriya screeched, and his face went straight into a bowl of soup, completely ruining his uniform top. "The hell is wrong with you?" I snapped at the boy, the girls and I shoving paper towels at Midoriya's mess. The boy rolled his eyes with a grin, "Oh, I'm _sorry_. I guess I just couldn't miss a head that big." I barked a laugh, but eventually trailed off, "Shit! You're not joking!" Midoriya rubbed the lump on the back of his head, "Ow! That really hurt. Hey, you're from class 1-B! Monoma, right?" The boy- Monoma- turned and looked down his nose at our table, "I heard you guys stumbled across the Hero Killer." I pushed back my chair with a screech and planted my hands on the table, my intimidating glare aimed straight at Monoma, "Choose your next words wisely," I growled. Monoma's smile didn't falter, "Just like at the sports festival, class 1-A isn't happy unless it's the center of attention." His grin actually widened, "But you do realize that you're not in the spotlight because people think you're good Heroes, right? It's just you keep getting into so much trouble." I snarled, "That's it!" and vaulted my legs and wings over the table, putting my face super close to Monoma's. He was quite a bit shorter than me, but he wasn't fazed. I glared down with all of the rage I could muster, "If you're going to be an ass, take your bullshit somewhere else."

He opened his mouth to continue, but a hand cracked down on his shoulder. Monoma was out in less than a second. I deflated a little bit, "Thanks, Kendo. I didn't really want to get in trouble 'cause I knocked his lights out." She smiled and apologized to the table, dragging Monoma's limp form away by the collar of his shirt. I flopped back into my chair, poking at my forgotten chicken. "Y'know," Bakugo mumbled, his face centimeters from his food, "You don't have to stand up for us." I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, you guys should be standing up for yourselves." He looked up, "That's not what I meant, idiot. I _meant_ that you don't have to attack them." I blinked. My classmates blinked. "Hold up," I said slowly, "Did I just get an anger management tip from _BAKUGO_?!" He grumbled something incoherent and went back to his food.

I laughed with my nearby classmates at him. Then I nudged him with my wing, "No, like, seriously. That means a lot, sparkles. I can see what you mean. I can also see how you might take the same advice sometimes." I smiled, "Thanks." Bakugo rolled his eyes, "Stop whining. Now you owe me one." I sputtered as he laughed and left the table with his empty plate.

Back in class, we were buzzing over the next day. I moaned, "I can't believe we have three whole days of written exams!" The girls shrugged in unison. Mina piped up, "Well, if you did well on the midterms, you should be fine!" She was kind of cut off by Momo bouncing into our group huddle, "Are you guys ready for the study party at my place?" I grimaced, "Study party?" Mina grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, Momo's gonna help us, remember?" I nodded slowly, remembering their conversation earlier.

We all paused and looked up as Bakugo growled, "Dekuuuuuuuu." I facepalmed and strode over as he spouted off at Midoriya and Todoroki about how he was going to crush them and yada yada yada. I grabbed the strap of his backpack and dragged him- still cussing up a storm- out into the hallway. "Why can't you just be nice?" I demanded, standing square in his path so he couldn't escape. He scowled, "I won't be beat by another half-assed-" I rolled my eyes, "I beat you! Do you honestly think that I do anything half-assed?" He shrugged. Winking, I shoved him to the side, "Gotcha! Now be nice or I'll fry your brains." Bakugo stomped off.

The testing days went by so quickly. I was pretty sure that I did well on the written section, but until the scores were released, I had no clue what my score was. Most everyone else was moping around the classroom. "I feel like I've used all of my brain power for the week," I groaned, dropping my head on my desk. A few people moaned in response. Bakugo was clicking his pen. Over. And over. I eventually dragged myself to my feet and swatted it out of his hand. He didn't really respond, just kind of huffed and looked away. So, for the rest of the day, we were effectively brain dead.

I walked home kind of dejectedly, my leg and wing basically healed. My feet were killing me, and my wings were stiff. I kicked open the door and chucked my backpack onto the couch, flopping down next to it. My mom had taken me to get my haircut the day before testing, so it was still soft as I ran my fingers through it. I wrestled my shoes off, grumbling. My brothers' shoes were lined up in neat little rows, and their backpacks were already unpacked. "Hey, kids!" I shouted. No response. Last time they did this, they tried to jump out and scare me in the bathroom, so I was not amused. Mom's pumps were also there, so I called for her next. Nothing. Honestly, I was starting to freak out a little bit.

Taking a scalding hot shower always seemed to clear my head, so I tiptoed to the bathroom. I was trying to be as quiet as possible, listening for any signs of my family. When I turned around to open the bathroom door, I was greeted by a very startled intruder. I screeched and stumbled back, slipping on a discarded sock. The intruder grunted as my feet went over my head and my wings buffeted them. Next thing I knew, the barrel of a pistol was jabbed into the side of my neck. A gruff voice barked, "If you move or attempt to use your Quirk, I'll shoot you and order my men to shoot your family." My heart skipped a beat. Shi-i-i-i-it.

Ok. What did I know about this crapfest? The intruder with me was male. Short but ripped. Unknown Quirk. Black on black and a ski mask. At least one gun. He said "men," so there were at least two more dudes. Also probably armed.

The intruder used his gun to shove me forward. I stumbled out into the hall, looking all over for some kind of plan. Everything within reach was either too small to inflict damage, or too heavy for me to swing. Why the hell were my parents so bad at weaponizing interior design?! I was starting to get frustrated and scared, which screwed with the weather like always. The sunny spring day turned gross pretty fast, with a crap ton of rain and wind. I really hoped that someone who knew me would interpret the sudden change. It was going to be tough to get out of this myself. The guy muscled me into my brothers' bedroom, where the other two intruders were. My brothers and my mom were sitting against the wall, their hands on their knees. Sure enough, the other two douchebags had a rifle each.

I growled, "The hell do you fuckwads want?" The guy nearest me poked me with the barrel of his pistol, "Get down. Stop talking." I blew a raspberry, plopping down on my butt. One guy, with the head of what looked like a goat, snarled, "There's someone who wants to have a talk with you, Miss Thunderbird." I rolled my eyes, "Are they still pissed at me for the Stain thing? You from Hosu? Did the Chief hire you or something?" The guys sputtered. I sighed, "Who in their right mind would try to take on my family and me?" The goat guy snapped, "Shigaraki. Tomura Shigaraki of the League of Villains. He's offering a lot of money for your presence." I rolled my eyes, "Well, he can shove his money up his-" The butt of a gun cracked across my face. Mom gasped and flinched forward. A trickle of blood ran over my lips from my nose.

Mom started laughing. It started as a little chuckle, then grew to be actually crying, she was laughing so hard, "You fucking idiots!" She laughed, "You don't realize what you've just done!" I echoed my Mom's giggles and stood up, bracing against the wall. I stopped laughing suddenly and fired up my Quirk, "No. You don't." I looked back at my brothers, "After you, boys." Six evil little grins. "Fantastic." The intruders were starting to get what was happening. My brothers and I had put together hundreds of battle plans for situations just like this. Well, not the four-year-olds, but they helped as best they could.

Taine and Tait froze the guys up, and Hades and Mienai started sneezing all over the place. Mom thickened the cloud with some of her own. Weird mini-power of my Mom, my brothers and I: we could see perfectly fine in fog or bad weather. So the burglars couldn't see shit. We could.

I darted forward and relieved them of their weapons. They were shouting and cursing, struggling against my brothers' control. I gave them all a lovely shock, glaring at them as they flopped around on the ground. The little guys ran off to find the giant zip ties, so Mom, Hades and I sat on top of the intruders to keep them down. "This seems too easy," I grumbled, jabbing my elbow in between the shoulder blades of the squirming goat man, "Last time I dealt with the League of Villains, they were much better prepared than… _this_." I gestured to the defeated guys scattered around my brothers' bedroom. The goat guy laughed hoarsely, "You thought we'd take on the kid who almost killed Stain with no back-up plan?" Mom's head snapped up, "You did _what_?!" Another guy chuckled, "You don't know. Most people don't know. The other children know. They did it, too." His laugh grew manic, and Hades had to shove him down.

The little ones returned with the zipties, and Mom and I tied the guys up as tight as humanly possible. The one was still laughing, which was absolutely unsettling. All of a sudden, a terrified little kid scream blared from the main room of the apartment. I jumped up and sprinted out into the hall, slamming into the doorframe. Eichi was being manhandled by a fourth guy in the kitchen. Eito was on the ground screaming, clutching at the stump of his left hand. Little spikes were flying everywhere from Eichi's flailing. A couple grazed my arms and wings as I cried out and charged for the guy. His mouth took up his entire torso, and he was angling to fit all of Eichi in it.

"You sick fuck!" I roared, diving into and grabbing Eichi. We rolled into the cabinets. I deposited him and grabbed a carving knife from our block, chucking it at the mouth dude. His torso peeled apart, revealing a shit ton of sharp teeth, and swallowed it up. I ran past him to scoop up Eito while dragging Eichi behind me, busting through my bedroom door. The twins were shoved onto my bed for safekeeping with a large blanket over them. I barked to my other brothers and Mom, who were poking their heads out into the hall, "Get off the floor! Don't touch metal!" Mom realized what I was doing, shouting directions to the older ones.

I stalked back into the main room, eyeing the mouth dude, whose gaping maw was slurping up metal utensils. A smirk flashed across my face, "Your mouth is so big. Your brain isn't." And fried that sucker. Lightning blazed from my outstretched hand, angling toward the mess of metal this fuckwad had swallowed. Some unholy screech came out of it, and it curled outward like some kind of demonic abomination. The thing was still alive… I think.

Right on fucking cue, Papa bust through the door in his Hero costume, flanked by Hosu police officers. "Papa," I shouted, my voice breaking, "We- we need an ambulance for Eito!" Papa's face went white as a sheet, "There's one out front. Where is he?!" I was crying too hard to tell him, so I grabbed his arm and dragged him to my room. Eichi and Eito were still huddled under the blanket. "I tried to keep him from going into shock, but I think I was too late!" I sobbed, hiking Eichi onto my shoulders as Papa scooped up silently crying Eito. We thundered downstairs and crammed Mom into an ambulance with them. "Follow the car, keep your brothers and me updated," Papa barked before heading back inside.

I took off and trailed the truck to the hospital. Mom and Eichi were escorted to a waiting room while Eito went straight to surgery. I was sent straight to a recovery room once I arrived. Mom and Eichi soon showed up. Both of them were crying a ton. I braced my elbows on my knees, mashing my face into my hands, "I was too late. I wasn't able to save him. All this is my fault." I scrubbed tears from my eyes, burying my face in Mom's shoulder. She turned and said tearfully, "No, honey! It's all of our faults. We can't rely on you and your dad all the time. It's the criminals' fault." Her expression darkened, "In fact, if I ever see those pathetic excuses for human beings again, I'll kill them myself." Eichi squeaked, "Mama!" His little finger was pointed to the door, where a pint-sized hospital bed was being rolled in.

"Eito!"

Eichi leapt from his seat and practically flew into Eito. Eito screeched and giggled. Then suddenly, everyone was crying and laughing at the same time. The nurse stood smiling quietly until the twins settled down before explaining the situation to Mom and I. She perched on the end of a chair, "Your son, Mrs. Arashi, did lose his left hand to the wrist. His Quirk will be largely unaffected by the loss, as our healer discovered that he can produce larger ice structures with the wrist." She gestured to the twins excitedly babbling about a huge spike sitting in Eito's lap. "The healer was able to completely fuse the wound shut, so he's good to go! I'll go get some discharge forms for you." She smiled again and left.

Mom and I immediately ran to the twins, squeezing Eito and Eichi so tight. Eito showed us how he could make a HUGE spike, like the size of a super sharp baseball. Eichi refused to leave Eito's side the entire way home. When we got back, Papa and the police had already hauled off the bad guys to be interrogated. Taine, Tait, Hades, and Mienai were silent in the apartment. I flung open the door only to be met by a few water guns exploding on me. "Excuse me but what the hell?" I demanded, shaking water off my wings. Mienai shrugged, "You have to be prepared." I growled at them, "You could hear me land. This isn't a time to screw around." They did look slightly chagrined, but refilled their water guns as Mom and the little guys came in.

"Are we going to move or something?" Taine asked suddenly, "Pop said that the League of Villains knows where we live now." I scowled, "This isn't for us to decide, Taine. Let Mom and Papa figure it out. Besides, if they dared to show their sorry mugs around here ever again, we'd cream 'em!" The middle twins whooped, and I got smirks from the oldest twins.

My parents ended up deciding to move into a hotel overnight. I went to pack up some clothes for the night, but discovered something fucking terrible. "No!" I screeched, digging through the mess of papers on my desk. Mom ran into my room, "What! What!" I plopped down on my bed, fuming, "They stole my fucking radars! And my BASS!" Boy, was I pissed. I'd bought four weather radars with my own money a few years back, and I'd been learning to play bass since I was like eight. "They were so nice," I whined. Mom scowled, "Maybe let's not scream bloody murder unless we're being attacked, m'kay?" I mumbled a sorry and jammed my balled-up school uniform into my duffle bag.

Papa's Agency was sponsoring the hotel, because there was no way we could afford a hotel room fit for nine people. I chucked my bag onto my bed. My brothers all had to share beds, but Papa, Mom, and I got our own. Hooray for wings! I sat cross-legged on the bed, pulling out my phone.

I texted the group chat, "Hey, is everyone okay?" A couple confused messages popped up. "Wat" "Are _you_ okay?" "What u mean?" Then a message from Bakugo, "No." I typed furiously fast, "What happened?" Typing…. "Some idiots broke into my parents' place." Me. "No fucking way." Then Midoriya. "You guys, too?" I was typing again when another message from Bakugo popped up. "LoV, right." Mom called from the other room, "Haruto! Get some shoes on! You're gonna come with us to file a report!" I texted the group again. "Tomorrow, 0830. Front commons of UA. Be there."

The rest of the day flew by. The police took a statement from my brothers and me, and I got another earful about controlling my Quirk. We only got back to the hotel room at 2300. My brothers were a pack of zombies, so I helped Mom herd them through their bedtime routine. I now understand why people say, "Herding cats." I went to bed at about 0300 after making several patrol laps above Hosu. What a day to be attacked by idiots. I was going to be sore during the practical, now.

I landed at almost exactly 0800 at UA. The entire class except for Bakugo was there. Uraraka practically knocked me over with a huge hug. I sputtered, "What's up? Are you okay?" She squealed, "I saw what happened on the news! Six other houses were broken into!" I approached Midoriya, "Is your mom okay?" He shrugged, "The police made it there in time to stop the break-in. We were able to stay." I huffed, "Lucky." Finally, Bakugo slowly sauntered into view. "Hey, sparkles! You okay?" Bakugo growled, "Fine. Shut up." I stuck my tongue out at him, "How's your family?" He grunted, "Mom's pissed. Dad's fine. You?" I shrugged, "Fine. Pissed. My little brother lost his hand."

Horrifyingly awkward silence.

"He lost what?" Iida finally breathed. "His hand," I replied hotly, "But he's _fine_ because apparently that amplified half of his Quirk." All the other people with siblings were really pale. Tsu finally asked, "How old?" I groaned, "Which one? The one I was just talking about? Four. Five in two weeks." It was way too quiet for my liking. "Well," I sighed, "I fried the dude responsible, so…" Bakugo nodded approvingly, and I got a fist bump from Kaminari and Kirishima. That seemed to relax everyone except Koda, who still looked a little freaked out.

After checking in with everyone else, we headed to the practical test venue. I got my costume back on. It was starting to feel natural to be in Hero-mode. We trooped up to the huge building, greeted by a gathering of Hero teachers. This was starting to get interesting.

So, the test was two-on-one against a teacher. They were restrained, but these were PRO HEROES. They worked for years to be the best. I really felt bad for Bakugo and Midoriya, who were fighting against All Might. Yikes.

Jiro and I were up against Present Mic. That kind of worried me. It seemed like we were paired with these teachers for specific reasons. The best thing I could come up with was that our Quirks wouldn't mesh at all. We were great at working together, though.

"Alright!" I said through a big stretch, "What's our strategy? Got anything?" Jiro toyed with one of her jacks, "My Quirk is similar to his. Loud. I can try to blow him back with a competing shockwave." I finished my stretch, "But you'd have to be louder than him. We're talking about Present Mic, studs." She rolled her eyes, "Finally, my nickname." I shrugged, "Alright, Medusa. I can't fly within range of either of your attacks, because I'll be blown out of the sky." I facepalmed, "_That's _why we were put together! Our attacks would cancel each other out! I can't fly in a sound attack, and any wind would scatter the sonic boom!"

Jiro scowled, "So let's avoid direct combat. We'll head straight for the escape gate. Sound good?" I whooped just as the buzzer went off, signaling the start of our match.

We were in a forest area. Birds were all over the place, squawking and singing. "That's good," I whispered, "They'll give us some cover." Jiro nodded with a tiny grunt. We took off running toward the escape gate as quickly and quietly as we could. After a solid thirty seconds, a huge, deafening yell slammed through the forest. I threw up a bubble of tornado-force wind around us. "Is this some kind of metal echolocation?" I shouted over the drone. Jiro shouted back, "I don't know! We have to keep moving! Ugh! It feels like my eardrums are going to burst!" I agreed as loud as I could. When the sound petered out, Jiro braced against a tree, "He's better than I thought he was. And he's probably waiting for us at the gate. What to do…"

A few more shouts from Mic screamed into us. Both of our ears were bleeding by the time he was done. "Alright," I panted, "I'm gonna put him in a tornado and chuck him away from the gate so we can leave." Jiro shook blood off of her jacks, "Why didn't you do that earlier?!" I laughed and called down a mini tornado, sweeping it toward Mic. He tried to shout at it, but the sound was carried away. I scooped him up and flung the tornado to the other side of the test area. Then Jiro and I booked it to the escape gate.

"Team Jiro and Arashi pass!"

I went to the viewing room after I was cleared. Iida, Momo, Midoriya, Tsu, and Uraraka were already there. Another buzzer sounded right as I entered. "Team Mineta and Sero pass!" I paused behind Uraraka, "Hmm. Tell me about it. How'd they do it?" Uraraka squeaked and jumped, "Hey, Haruto! Great job, by the way!" I started to say thanks, but she cut me off with an in-depth analysis of Mineta's plan to sticky-trap Midnight and run for the hills. "Sweet," I mumbled, already looking back, "Hey, Midoriya!" He looked up. "It's yours and Bakugo's turn. Tell him that if he tries to blow you up, I'll fry his brains." His face went a shade paler.

He left, so we were left watching the screens with Recovery Girl. I actually fell asleep against the wall, and I was quite happy and at peace until Uraraka shrieked, "They passed!" I stumbled and fell over, knocking my elbow against the floor, "Shit!" Momo looked down, confused, "Are you okay?" I looked up tearfully and wailed, "I hit my goddamn funny bone!"

I flew to the hotel happy as a clam. Mom and Papa greeted me at the door with hugs and surprise ice cream! They'd gone to a shop around the corner and grabbed a pint of matcha- my favorite! I ate most of it myself, with everyone else stealing bites here and there. My brothers were elated. Taine asked, "So are you like a Hero now?" I said around a mouthful of ice cream, "One step closer, squirt!"

Falling asleep again was super easy. I was tired even though I hadn't really done much. It'd been an eventful couple of days.

The next day, we received our results! I passed third in the whole class! Here came the snowflakes! We were super pumped about the summer camp, and received booklets about what to bring. Even the few who didn't pass were allowed to come! We were buzzing about everything after class when Hagakure suggested we all go shopping together. "C'mon, sparkles! I saw a pair of light-up sneakers that you'd just _love_-" He cut me off by shoving past, "That sounds annoying." Todoroki bailed to go visit his family. His mom, I think.

I flew back to the hotel as fast as I could and changed into a black tank top, khaki cargo shorts, and a beat-up black baseball cap with my sneakers. The class was already there when I made it to the mall, splitting up to go buy different stuff. "Hey, bubbles!" Uraraka turned around, "Hey!" I looked at the crumpled list in my hand, "Wanna come with me to buy bug spray and sunscreen?" She shrugged and smiled, "Sure!" Midoriya popped up behind her, "Can I come, too?" Uraraka squeaked and grabbed my hand, sprinting away.

When she finally ran out of breath, I stopped her, "The hell was that?" She held up a finger, panting. Big breath, "N-nothing. I just… it's just-" I sighed, "You have a crush on him, don'tcha?" Her face went tomato red, and she began babbling. I folded my arms until she stopped. "I'll leave it be… _for now_. Away!" I hooked my arm in hers and dragged her into the outdoorsy store.

We bought a bottle of bug spray each, and a couple tubes of sunscreen. "Should we go back to hotshot?" I asked, digging through my Pokemon tote bag for a candy bar. Uraraka leaned over a railing, looking down to the main floor, "Yeah, I kinda feel bad for leaving him like that." I shrugged and had an "A-ha!" moment when I found a Kit-Kat. I gave her half as we shuffled onto the escalator.

It took us a minute to locate Midoriya's signature mop of green curls. "Hol' up," I hissed, catching Uraraka's elbow, "Who's the shady dude?" We finally came within range. Midoriya's eyes shot up to us, then darted back to the guy. Black hoodie, silver hair. Bad vibes. He was kind of hugging Midoriya really close. Midoriya's face was getting paler as we slowly inched closer. "Hey, Deku. Is this a friend?" Uraraka asked shakily. The silver-haired dude looked up with bloodshot red eyes.

No no no no no no no no no.

No fucking way.

I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and a couple zaps of lightning skate across my skin, "Let him go, sir." The guy didn't move. "Now," I growled. Now we could see that Tomura Shigaraki had Midoriya in a choke hold. Midoriya was really sweating now. Shigaraki looked up with a strained smile, "Oh, Izuku Midoriya! I didn't realize that you came here with friends!" He released Midoriya and stood up, walking speedily past us. I rammed my shoulder into his as he passed. He paused to look me in the eye, "If any of you try to follow me, I'll get _very angry_." He disappeared into the crowd.

"I'm gonna follow him," I announced, turning to follow. A hand closed around my arm. "Let me go, hotshot," I warned, cutting a glance back at him over my shoulder. He was heaving for breath and crying, "Don't. Let's let the authorities take care of him." I huffed, "Fine. But next time, _I_ get to kill him."

Uraraka and Midoriya took care of all the administrative stuff as I flew back to the hotel. Papa was waiting for me in the lobby, and he. Was. Livid.

"Why can't you stay out of trouble, Haruto?" he demanded, grabbing my ear and dragging me into the room, "I swear, I leave you alone for _eight hours_ and you manage to find Shigaraki in a goddamn shopping mall!" I huffed a sarcastic, "Ow." He let go on plopped down on his bed, muttering angrily. Mom poked her head in, "Ah, Haruto. Punch anyone today?" I growled, "Not yet." She shrugged and laughed, "That's a win in my book!" Papa joined her as they left the area, corralling the twins through bedtime.

I flopped down on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

Boy was this going to be fun.

* * *

**All right! Time for some excuses! Pls don't hate me!**

**I am so sorry for the completely unannounced six-week hiatus! I am drowning in online school right now, and I haven't had much time to post, because I review the entire chapter right before I do so.**

**Also, like the idiot I am, I may or may not have started a total of three new fanfictions which will be debuting sometime in June. Don't riot just yet, I've also prewritten the next six chapters of Thunderbird, so be expecting more regular updates!**

**Again, I am sooo sorry ~The Graceful Egg**


	10. Chapter 10

And the first semester was officially over!

We kind of hung out in the classroom instead of actually learning anything. I was sitting with Bakugo and the usual folks (Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, Jiro) next to the girls. A lot of our conversations overlapped with what was going on in the rest of the room. At one point, the whole class got into a heated debate about whether hot soba was better than cold soba. I was the only person who apparently didn't like soba at all, so I moderated. Cold soba eventually won, but only because Momo changed sides on the basis that you can't burn your mouth on cold soba.

Just before a fight could break out about tea temperature, Aizawa came in to save us. "Since you obviously have nothing better to do, go to the school gym until the final bell," he mumbled, hiding behind his podium. We collectively sighed and trudged off to the gym.

Most people were screwing around in the gymnastics area, but I was too big for any of it. Except maybe the trampolines. But I could fly. Why would I want to bounce? And I couldn't do anything cool on the bars or something because of my wings. So I settled for pull-ups and lifting weights. We were all in gym clothes from home. Mine was a beat-up old t-shirt from Papa and a pair of leggings.

"Hey, Haruto!" Tsu chirped. I set down my dumbbells, turned, and smiled, "Hey!" Uraraka picked at her nails kind of uncomfortably, "So, I know you can't swim here, right?" I raised my eyebrows, "Yeah, Mineta-friendly swimsuits and feathers don't mix." Uraraka looked at a loss for words. Tsu picked up the slack, "We're going to the school pool after school today. And we were wondering if maybe you'd like to come?" I stood up, fully intending to remain fully clothed, "Sure!"

While the girls were playing water polo, the boys of 1-A were swimming endurance laps. I was pretty sure that they weren't enjoying themselves for the most part. I was sitting on the edge of the pool with my feet dangling in the water. Every few minutes, I would get splashed and retaliate with a blast of wind, rolling a wave across the surface of the water. The girls would bob away, squealing and laughing. I also retrieved the ball for them if it bounced onto land.

The boys took a break at one point, and I helped Iida carry a cooler of sodas to the poolside. After handing out the cans, Iida piped up, "Hey, we should see which of the boys can swim 50 meters the fastest!" The girls clambered out of the pool as the boys lined up. Three rounds. The winners would swim against each other. Momo Created a silver whistle and ran the races. The winners of the three rounds were Bakugo, Todoroki and Midoriya. All of them used their Quirks, but Bakugo and Todoroki didn't even touch the water. Yeah. Definitely a _swimming _race.

"Alright! Time for the final race!" Iida shouted. The rest of the class shouted and jeered, but I stayed quiet, narrowing my eyes at the racers, who were stretching nearby. I was interested to see how this turned out. The boys fired up their Quirks, and I started to get excited, but they ended up belly-flopping into the water. I snorted and burst out laughing as they sputtered to the surface. Aizawa stood at the complex door, his Quirk targeted at the swimmers. "It's five p.m. Your pool time is over."

I said my goodbyes and flew back to the hotel alone.

Mom and Papa helped me pack my stuff for the camp. My brothers made guest appearances here and there to hand me stuff, but were largely otherwise occupied with homework. Finally, I had the giant suitcase to end all giant suitcases, stuffed full of training clothes, hygiene stuff, and maybe a hunting knife. And pepper spray. Just in case! In my defense, Papa got the knife for me for my twelfth birthday. It had an abstract titanium handle measured for my huge hands and a golden, iridescent blade. The sheath was imitation leather with lightning bolts burned into it. I loved it, to say the least. But I usually didn't carry it because my Quirk could protect me if I got into a scuffle.

The next day, we received a briefing from Aizawa about a summer training camp as soon as we got to school. Strengthening our resolves and whatnot. Afterward, as we trooped outside with our luggage, Uraraka was glowing with excitement, "I'm so psyched for this camp! I've been waiting all semester!" She was basically in Midoriya's face, and I could swear he got a little pink in the face. And after his flustered response, so did Uraraka.

_Interesting_. _VERY interesting. _

_I figured Uraraka had a crush on Midoriya, but this was even better._

Class B was lined up for the bus opposite ours. I wasn't particularly _friendly_ with any of them, and I didn't exactly have a warm, inviting vibe. Also, I hated Monoma's guts after what he did to Midoriya. I saluted Kendo as she dragged him onto their bus. She grinned back. After Iida had put everyone on the bus in alphabetical order, height order, and Quirk type, we left for the camp. My wings took up two seats and I was pretty uncomfortable, but I wasn't allowed to fly that far by myself, so I'd have to deal with it.

We paused once for a bathroom break. _Mineta's fault. Asshat had the bladder of a squirrel_. At a rest stop overlooking a forest, the bus squeaked to a halt. I shoved my way out, spreading my wings out as far as I could, "Whew! It feels so good to be off that damn bus!" I blasted a gust of wind into the sky as I stretched. Kirishima looked around for a beat before saying, "Where's Class B?" The class followed his gaze.

We were alone, except for an old, broken down station wagon.

Like always, Aizawa had a surprise, "You don't think we stopped just so you could stretch your legs, did you?" I tilted my head, "You stopped so we could stretch our wings?" He glared at me. Right on cue, two Pro Heroes burst out of the old car. They were two of the Wild, Wild Pussycats! They were a superhero team that was formed when we were kids. We said hello enthusiastically. Mandalay, the leader of the team, and Pixie-bob, one of their members, were talking to us about what the camp was for. Developing our powers and whatnot. Mandalay pointed to where the camp was in the forest below. Dread sunk like a rock in my gut. Oh no no no no no no.

My classmates started to get the memo, slowly retreating back toward the bus. "The current time is 0930," Mandalay purred, "If you're fast about it, you might make it there by noon!" I followed my classmates as we sprinted toward the bus. Before we could make it, Pixie-bob jumped out in front of us. Eraser Head chucked, "The training camp… has already begun."

Pixie-bob used her Earth-manipulation Quirk to contort the land and toss all of the class down into the woods.

We landed at the edge of the forest. Some people were spitting dirt out of their mouths, and I was shaking mud out of my feathers. I flew back up the cliff per Iida's pissed off request. Aizawa saw me coming and told me to stay with the class, before I could spout off. As I flew back down to explain the situation, Mineta scrambled into the forest to take a leak. A beat of silence and frustration. We all froze when he came back out screaming. A huge rock monster thundered out right toward us. Iida, Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki turned it to dust in seconds. The class congratulated them, but Bakugo growled, "We're not done," and pointed into the woods, where another monster crawled out of the ground.

"We have to get to the camp using the shortest possible route," Momo shouted. Iida echoed, "Alright! Plus Ultra!" We settled into offensive stances, Quirks fired up. I conjured a monstrous funnel cloud in case we needed something with a little zest. Jiro and Shoji immediately started scouting, "Seven total!" "INCOMING!" Dammit.

I shouted, "I've got this one!" and leapt into the air to take out a flying dirt monster. I buffeted it with wind until it crashed and crumbled. "Nice!" Bakugo shouted. With a whoop, I slammed a small tornado into the woods. Three monsters down.

Sato and Kirishima took out another. Tokoyami. Aoyama. Mineta (surprisingly). Kaminari. I swooped down and grabbed the moron version, flying him to Momo for safekeeping. Hagakure and Momo took out another with Mina's acid. Momo Created a cannon and took out two more. Uraraka and Tsu took out another. "More closing in!" shouted Shoji. I burst up through the trees, shouting down, "I count thirty! Fifty!"

By the time we made it to the camp, my wings hurt so goddamn much I had to walk. Everyone else was starving and exhausted. The Pussycats, who had driven on the bus with Aizawa, laughed at us as we moped into the boundaries of the camp. Pixie-bob started annoying Iida, Todoroki, Midoriya and Bakugo about how great they were, but I was absolutely jealous. I'd taken out sixteen dirt monsters solo, and twenty in all. They'd had to work together to get one down. Mandalay startled me by resting her paw on my shoulder from behind, "You were also fantastic, Miss Arashi. Just, please don't make it rain next time. We don't like water." She smiled as I rolled my eyes.

A small child stood to the left of Mandalay during her welcome speech. He hadn't said a word or smiled the entire time. Midoriya went to say hello, but the kid punched him in his… um… precious packages. Iida went to comfort Midoriya and shout at the child, but I just laughed. I liked him.

His name was Kota.

I wandered over as the class went to get food. He was pretty small, so I guessed he was six, maybe seven years old. "Hey, bud," I said, squatting to his level. He leered at me from under the brim of his hat. I smiled brightly, "I'm Haruto! It's a pleasure to meet you!" I offered my hand. He glared at it. Kota looked up and moved forward to kick me in the shin. I sidestepped it easily, raising a little cloud of dust, "I'm not Midoriya, kiddo. I've got six little brothers. You're not gonna land a hit unless I let you, m'kay?" He looked up and shouted, "You're just a wannabe Hero! Why would I _want_ to land a hit!" I crouched down again, "Chill out, buddy," I saluted him, and with a smile jogged toward the mess hall.

After an _amazing _dinner, as good as Lunch Rush's food, I followed the girls to a bathing pool. Actually, a _hot spring_. I drooled a little at the thought of a long, warm soak. After we'd undressed and sunk into the warm water, we engaged in small talk question-and-answer sessions.

**Author's note: Here we go… everything you wanted to know about Haruto! You can skip this part if you like.**

_Who do you have a crush on? _Ew. I'm supposed to have a crush? _How's your family? _My little brother lost his hand about a week ago, so awful. _Why do you keep your hair so short? _Long hair is an absolute bitch. _What's your favorite food? _My dad's okonomiyaki. _Favorite dessert? _Chocolate. _Just chocolate? _Chocolate. Like, to the degree where you should hide your chocolate if I visit your house because it might mysteriously disappear. Mysterioussslyyyyy. _How about your favorite animal? _Chinchilla. It's fun to say. _Favorite Pokemon?_ Decidueye. _What languages can you speak?_ Japanese, bad English, okay Korean. _Can you play any instruments? _Electric bass and piano… does Kazoo count? _Any weird baby stories? _I used to narrate everything I did, as in sing songs on the toilet about crapping. _Favorite brother(s)? _Yes. _Favorite movie? _Probably _Ponyo_. Really any Studio Ghibli movie, though. _Favorite TV show? _Uh… _Voltron: Legendary Defender. _I saw it one day and accidentally became emotionally invested. No judgement or I'll fry your brains. _We're out of questions._ God, finally.

**Author's note: I'm done, I promise.**

A tall wooden wall separated us from the boys' spring. We were chilling when we heard shouts on the other side. Kota appeared at the top, not looking at us, and shoved someone down. _Mineta. _"Thanks, Kota babe!" Mina shouted. "Yeah, we owe you one!" I echoed. He turned slowly, saw the spring full of naked girls, and promptly fell from the wall onto the boys' side.

We scrambled out and covered ourselves as quickly as possible. The boys were also done, waiting anxiously outside the locker room in towels. "Is Kota okay?" I asked, hugging my modified robe tighter around my chest. Iida shrugged, pointing to a door at the end of the hall, "He was out cold when I last saw him. Midoriya and Mandalay took him there to patch him up." I sighed, "What a sweet kid. If only he weren't so grumpy." A few grunts from the class. The girls and I kind of hung around awkwardly in our robes until Mineta finally disgusted us enough that we decided to turn in for the night. We were sharing a cabin with each other. The 1-B girls were next door. I grabbed a huge Pikachu t-shirt and wiggled into it, breathing in the familiar smell of the fabric softener my mom used.

"I call the bottom bunk!" I shouted, diving onto one of the many bunk beds in the room. Uraraka shrugged, "Fine with me!" She floated up to the top, burrowing into a pile of blankets. A few others and I chuckled. Momo was the highest rank of any of us, so she did the official lights-out roll call, "Haruto?" I grumbled in response, "Me are tired." Momo snorted, "I, as well." Giggles. We were getting loopy. Anyway, she finished up and turned the lights off. Never had a crappy mattress been more comfortable.

The next morning, at 0530, Aizawa had us up and dressed. Everyone was still blinking sleep from their eyes as he gave his instructions. He told Bakugo to throw a softball like he had at the Quirk tests at the beginning of the year. He did, putting out a shock wave that buffeted everyone. He hadn't improved much at all.

The point of all this was to strengthen our Quirks themselves. Use them to their full capacity or whatever.

My training was long-distance flying to strengthen my wings, and lengthening my weather limit… at the same time. By about 1500, I'd flown 160 kilometers and tried eight types of storms, with only one seizure. I hurt so badly that I had to stand on the ground for my last few storms.

At the verrrrrrry end of the day, we were tasked with making our own curry for dinner. I helped Bakugo chop veggies while everyone else cooked, because we were apparently the only Heroes-in-training who knew how to handle knives. The food was… subpar, but after a day of training, I ate every slightly off bite.

The next morning, it was _so hard_ to get out of bed. I could barely walk straight, much less fly. I made it rain on accident and caused a mess of mud around the camp, then I made it too hot and made it worse for the other students. When I finally managed to lift off, I had a seizure immediately. Too tired to do anything else, I ran with Iida, whose engines were burned out, so he ran slow enough for me to keep up with him. We didn't really talk, he just showed me where to turn.

After a good twenty minutes of that, Pixie-bob's voice carried over to us, "Y'all have been training really hard today, so tonight we're going to do something fun! We're pitting classes against each other in a test of courage! Make sure you keep pushing yourself as you work!" With a chorus of 'Yes ma'am!'-s, we did a little bit of Plus Ultra, and doubled our pace. "Hey!" I shouted to Iida over the whistle of the wind, "What's all that about a test of courage?" He shrugged, bounding ahead of me, "We'll be trying to scare each other, essentially." I growled, "They better be prepared for a dark and stormy night!" Iida laughed.

After a lot of psyching myself up, I did fly. I scouted the entire forest. At least it would be useful during the test of courage. Boy, was I looking forward to hearing the screams of Class 1-B! As the sun began to dip below the horizon, I spotted a group of people clustered on an outcrop. I assumed it was a group of students, so I swooped down and said loudly, "Hey, it's about time for dinner, guys. Pixie-bob said we're making stew today!" They didn't move. "H-hey, guys?" The tallest person spoke, "Arashi Haruto, isn't it?" A chill tore up my spine.

"Yeah, are you in another year or something? I don't think I've seen you before," I said cautiously. He turned and smiled wanly, "I'm Dabi. Pleasure." Half of every part of his face was dark, like a bruise. A girl with blonde double buns turned, too. She was in a school uniform, but not a UA one. Some kind of edgy scarf hung around her shoulders, decorated with huge fangs. She grinned, flashing sharpened canines, "Are you a Hero?" So. They weren't from UA. "Wh-who are you guys, anyway? I don't think you're supposed to be here." Kid in an old-style gas mask. Blonde dude with a weird eye. Pink-haired guy wearing lipstick. Lizard man with some kinda mishmash sword. Magician-looking dude with a weird mask. The girl flapped a hand. That's when my useless brain realized that she had canisters on her back, and a shit ton of knives hidden in her clothes. "The Vanguard Action Squad, silly!" I lifted my chin and flexed my wings, ready to bolt for help if need be, "Of what?"

"Of the League of Villains!"

I screeched, "Shit!" and lifted off immediately, throwing intense weather at the camp, desperate to send them a signal. I had to get there. Blue fire roared after me, followed by a ridiculous amount of smoke. I took a too-deep breath and started feeling dizzy. Dammit! The gas was poison! Now I was losing altitude. Fast. I lost control of the wind I'd created and it blew me back toward the group. With a stagger, I landed a few meters away, swaying. I blinked, fighting against the haziness in my skull.

The gas was heavier on the ground, a thick layer of purple between everything else and me. I pulled my shirt over my nose and mouth, but I'd already inhaled too much. I swayed harder, and Dabi moved closer. My pathetic punch barely grazed his arm. I staggered back, running straight into a tree. _FUCK!_ My brain wasn't working right. Dabi's uppercut slammed into my sternum and launched me harder into the tree. My head cracked against the trunk. Dabi cocked his head and smiled crookedly, wrapping his hand around my throat and lifting until even the tips of my wings were above the ground, "One down, one to go." He squeezed, crushing my windpipe. The haze finally took over, and I blacked out.

All of a sudden, I was awake. It took me a second to realize where I was. In a clearing in the forest. Dabi's hand was on my neck again, but this time Bakugo was in his other hand. We were falling backwards, away from Todoroki, Midoriya and Shoji. I couldn't move a goddamn muscle. The darkness of a warp gate swallowed my wings. "Stay back, Deku," Bakugo whispered. I lost consciousness… again... as the warp gate closed.

* * *

**This one is a touch shorter because shit goes down in the next chapter. I'll try to post every Thursday night (where I am) from now on.**

**Also, sorry for the tiny bit of fanservice. I got a bunch of questions on other social media and I tried to answer them here. Bai for now~ the Graceful Egg.**


	11. Chapter 11

I was restrained in every way fucking possible. My hands, legs, and wings were all strapped down to a cement floor. Everything was non-conductive, meaning I couldn't call lightning through the roof, and I couldn't conjure a storm powerful enough to do any damage. I settled for cussing everyone within earshot out.

So their shitty excuse for literally kidnapping me was that they wanted me to join them. The first time Shigaraki asked me, I laughed in his face. He left the room eventually, and a few other villains rotated in and out over the next couple hours. All of them left with an impressive curse word vocabulary courtesy of yours truly. Eventually, they got real damn sick of me, and Dabi shoved an iron gag in my face. I responded with angry, muffled shouting and blasts of wind from my unhelpfully immobilized hands. No one came in for a bit after that.

The magician dude, Mr. Compress (what a stupid name), entered with a flourish, "Ah! We have an uncooperative audience, I see!" I rolled my eyes. He crouched down, putting his masked face centimeters from mine. I moved to headbutt him, but he darted away, shaking his finger and tutting at me, "Well now, that's no way to treat your entertainment!" He left for a moment and returned with a beat-up barstool, plopping down on it. Mr. Compress rolled a couple of blue marbles over his fingers, "Mr. Bakugo was much more compliant. He gave in almost immediately." My heart stopped. I looked up slowly to glare at his stupid mask. He chuckled, "Why, I bet he's having a nice drink with the rest of my colleagues! Perhaps a scotch on the rocks, or a straight whiskey. He seems like the brown alcohol type to me." I glanced away and refused to look at him for another five minutes. Bakugo was a stubborn bastard. He wouldn't give in to this bullshit… right? Mr. Compress finally sighed and left.

Next on the roster was the schoolgirl. I remembered her from the forest. She was the knife girl. She draped herself over the barstool, looking down at me, "You're Haru, right?" I scowled. "Oh, Haru!" She giggled, "That nickname is so cute! I thought you'd love it!" She pouted, then popped up again, "I'm Himiko Toga! I wish people would call me Himiko. Toga isn't nearly as cute! Will you call me Himiko?" Toga cocked her head and listened for an answer. "Oh, wait," she gasped in fake shock, "You're gagged right now!" That was when I really wished I had laser eyes, like in a comic book. So I could burn that stupid smile off her face. She called for someone called "Twice," and a tall, lithe guy with a weird costume wandered in. "I need you to take Haru's gag off so she can call me Himiko!" Twice moved forward slowly, suddenly lunging forward to rip off the gag. My lip split almost immediately. "Thanks," I said softly, looking up and licking blood off my lip, "Toga."

She blinked, mouth opening and closing like a fish. Then her face crumpled, and I realized how badly I'd just fucked up. She darted forward, silver flashing in her hand. I blinked, and there was a knife at my neck. The blade scraped across my skin as she panted angrily, every so often cursing under her breath.

The door opened, and Shigaraki pulled up the stool to talk to me, "Hello, Haruto." I scowled harder, despite the knife at my throat. "You may leave now, Toga. Twice." Toga shrieked, "_Please_ let me kill her. This would go _so_ much better if she just _bled_ more!" Shigaraki sat silently. Toga whined and pulled a small canister from her pockets. A huge needle emerged, connected to a thin metal tube. I grunted as the needle slammed into my thigh. I wrenched back in horror as blood began splashing into the container. _My _blood. "Wow! Type O! That's so rare, Haru!" Toga squealed as the needle withdrew, "This is some of the most beautiful blood I've seen!" I gagged, my head spinning. "The tranquilizer should help, Mr. Shigaraki," Toga chirped on her way out. Twice left without a sound.

Shigaraki turned to me, "I'm afraid that I'm here to talk to you again, Haruto. This time, it's a bit more of an interrogation." He cocked his head, "Why do you want to be a Hero? Tell me." I scowled, blinking through the haze in my head, "To help people, of course. Help kids. But mostly so I can scare the shit out of douchebags like you." He chuckled, propping his head on his hand, "Oh, believe me, I'm very scared of you. That's why you're restrained so much." I wrenched my body forward, almost making him flinch. Shigaraki sighed, "What a shame you don't want to join me. Besides the intimidation, we have very similar goals, you know. To make a name for ourselves and purify the world. You're just looking at it the wrong way. Join 'll pay you well, if anything." I scoffed, my head spinning, "You can shove all that up your ass." He shrugged, "How frustrating. Listen."

Even though it made my stomach roil, I _did_ find myself listening to his bullshit. Hadn't Toga said something about tranquilizer? Shit. "We could cleanse the world of crime. Think of a medically advanced society that could provide your mother with a steady job and heal your father's wings." My stomach twisted with horror. "A society safe enough that your little brothers could play outside with their Quirks and not be afraid of the police coming to stop them. You could be safe enough that you don't have to hide in a hotel while police watch your home constantly." He knew too much. _WAY too much. _"Sh-shut up!" I growled. The growl dissolved into giggles and hiccups.

He stood and moved slowly toward me, his hands up defensively. I was thoroughly surprised when he unfastened my wings. I froze. "After all, we are trying to recruit you. Might as well treat you like an equal," he mumbled. Shigaraki slowly unfastened the rest of the straps and offered me the chair. I was surprised and almost touched by his gentleness. Dammit! The hell was wrong with my head?!

After realizing that I wasn't going to take his offer for shit, he took ahold of my upper arm, but not hard enough to hurt. I noticed that he kept one of his fingers from touching me. Shigaraki muscled stumbling, high-as-a-kite me out to a sort of bar. Every villain I'd seen was sitting or standing around a chair. A revolted sneer flashed across my face as I saw Toga flung over the counter, showing off the canister full of my blood. Then I leaned forward and saw Bakugo strapped to a chair, his hands trapped in a huge block of cement. "You said he was freed. You said he was _fine_," I said slowly. The block thudded to the ground and the straps snaked off of him. "He is," Twice said matter-of-factly. I wrenched away and ran to Bakugo, who was now standing and wielding tiny explosions. He blew back Twice as I whipped around to face the baddies. Shigaraki's hand-mask-thing fell off his face. "This looks _fun_, sparkles," I hissed. Shigaraki sighed, "Compress, it's time to put them back to sleep. How _disappointing_." Magic-man stalked forward slowly.

I had to make an opening, some way for at least Bakugo to get to the door. Get out. Bakugo laughed, "I'll never join your league of bastards!" I whooped, "Fuck no!" We were gearing up to fight when a knock froze the room. "Hello?! I've got a pizza delivery here," a muffled voice said. Suddenly, All Might burst through the wall, followed by Kamui Woods, who immediately bound the villains with vines, and Gran Torino, who kicked anyone who struggled. I flung my arms around Bakugo, wailing, "You're okay! Holy shit, I was so worried!" He growled and tried to shove me off, but I just squeezed tighter until he stopped and let me bawl my eyes out. "Get off, feathers," he grumbled. I slugged him in the arm, "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" He rolled his eyes, "Don't worry about me, idiot. You were kidnapped, too." I whined, "Dude, you're like my best friend! I'll worry about whoever the hell I want, and that includes you!" He paused and looked at me funny, "Best friend?" I shrugged irediculously, "Duh!" He nodded, "Not bad."

All Might spoke loudly, cutting off our conversation, "You are safe now, children. I hope you were not too scared!" Bakugo went into a rant, but I stayed silent. Truth be told, all this felt really weird. Pro Hero Edge Shot had put the warp guy to sleep, the villains and Nomus were restrained, but I still felt so strange. Kind of floaty and bubbly. Very giggly.

Gray sludge burst from Bakugo's mouth and glopped onto my wings, wrapping us in a warp gate. I actually screamed (not my proudest moment) as the world faded again.

I coughed and gagged as the sludge dropped me on my feet. Bakugo was swearing up a storm and coughing beside me. "What the hell?" I ground out. A tall figure in a suit stood before us, "My apologies, children." I looked around at what looked like a levelled warehouse around us. Mt. Lady and Gang Orca were on the ground. They weren't moving. The League of Villains materialized with similar sludge around us, all moaning about how gross it was.

Shigaraki fell to his knees, "Master."

Great. The final boss.

We staggered back, scanning the shitfest before us. Police officers were scattered here and there, hopefully just unconscious. Then we saw Pro Hero Best Jeanist. He was lying on the ground still as stone, a gaping hole in his torso. Oh God. If this guy took down the #4 Hero… I nudged Bakugo with my wing. He saw Jeanist, then glanced back at me. Fuck. He was scared. If Bakugo was scared, then how the actual hell were we going to get out of this? The suit dude started some kind of inspirational villain speech, so I grabbed Bakugo's wrist and began to back away as slowly as I could. "Aight, let's blow this shit stand," I hissed, a manic giggle bubbling out of my throat, "Can you imagine like a literal shit stand? Like they sell shit on a stick?" I clapped my hands and started laughing like an actual maniac. He didn't respond, but I could tell that he was really getting pissed. Not the time, hot head. I was already out of commission. We didn't need any more stupidity.

Before we could do much else, All Might fell from the sky mid-smash and rammed into the figure. The shock wave shoved Bakugo and I back. I caught him with my wing and blocked the wave with my body. The suit man put out another, significantly stronger wave by punching All Might away. We were buffeted hard by another shockwave. When the dust cleared, we saw a distinct path of destruction. "All Might!" Bakugo shouted. "Holy shit!" I echoed. The suit man spoke again, waving a hand at us, "Oh, it'll take more than that to kill him. Leave, Tomura. Take the children with you."

Black tendrils of smoke burst from his fingers and lodged in the unconscious warp guy's back, opening a huge warp gate. Forcible Quirk activation. The sight made my stomach churn (Well, maybe that was whatever the hell they injected into me…). But using someone's Quirk without their consent, just ugh. Tomura turned on Bakugo and I, "Let's go, children." Bakugo sunk into an offensive stance, "This is gonna be fun!" I giggled and stuck out my hip, "Okay!"

We fought hard while still trying not to fight. He dodged with explosions, I dodged with blasts of wind. I could have flown away with him, but I was still screwed up in the head, and I could barely lift a meter off of the ground. Essentially, we were stuck for the moment.

At one point, he was having trouble with Toga and her throwing knives. I moved to intercept, but she moved too quickly and rammed her knee into my back, pinning me to the ground. Bakugo blew her away and ran to my side, offering me a hand up, "Let's go, Arashi. You have to get up." Was he _worried _about me? _Aw._

I took his hand and he heaved me to my feet. Suddenly, a giant ice spike drove into the sky. Midoriya, Kirishima, and Todoroki launched off of it, screaming for Bakugo. Typical.

He glanced over his shoulder, "Let's blow this shit stand?"

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!" I whooped, taking off after the boys. Bakugo used his explosions to catapult himself up next to me, whooshing past. I squawked, "Show off!" Kirishima caught his hand, hiking him up so Iida and Midoriya could grab him. It was then that I realized that they hadn't quite figured out how to land. The absolute fucking idiocy of these dipshits (I was one to talk). I had to situate myself in front of them and use a blast of wind to keep them from crashing into the street.

We scrambled around a corner into an alley and met up with Momo and Todoroki. Momo threw her arms around me and snapped a lecture at me, all while sobbing. I was still really fucking spacey. For comparison, I was about as aware of my surroundings as Kaminari after his indiscriminate shock attack. As in: not at all. I stood and stared at the wall until Kirishima tapped me on the shoulder. My legs came out from under me as I whipped around. I plopped to the ground. The others kind of stared at me. I giggled and hiccuped, "I fell down!" The group glanced at each other.

Kirishima hauled me to my feet and grabbed my shoulders, "What's your problem, Arashi?" I poked his chest accusingly, "What's _your_ problem, spiky?" I laughed at my own bad joke. Midoriya squinted at me, "It's like she took some kind of laughing gas." A little spark of awareness appeared in my head. I wrenched away from Kirishima, putting my face super close to Midoriya's, "Yes! Toga did!" Momo looked up suddenly, "They injected you with something?" I whooped, "Hell yes!" My back bumped against the wall of the alley, "It wasn't this bad before." She planted her hands on her hips, "Must be some kind of timed-release drug." I snapped and fired finger guns at the group.

We ran through a crowd of folks watching a jumbo-tron. I was kind of being dragged, so I didn't totally grasp what was on that screen. It was live footage of the battle between All Might, and the suit dude- All For One. Apparently, they were like nemeses.

I dug my heels into the ground, jerking Momo to a halt. "I think I'm going to barf!" I gagged, bracing myself against a bike rack on the sidewalk. She ran back, followed by the boys. I crouched down, pressing my hand over my mouth. Momo scooched past my wings to grab me and drag me to my feet, "Come on! We shouldn't waste too much time! You and Bakugo need to get to the Pro Heroes nearby!" I nodded and swallowed, staggering to my feet. She hooked her arm with mine and motored forward.

Soon enough, she was passing me off to an emt at the Pro Hero blockade surrounding the disaster zone. The emt sat me in an ambulance and ran blood tests across from Bakugo getting a gash stitched up. "Shit!" the emt barked. The other med tech looked up. "That's a hell of a lot of ketamine!" he looked up at me, flashing a little light in my eyes, "It's a miracle you're conscious!" I grinned, staring blankly at him. He shrugged, "Mostly, anyway." He immediately hooked me up to a rolling IV and gave me a huge shot of an anti-sedative.

I was driven home by the emt in the ambulance. They swung by Bakugo's place to drop him off first. I forced him to give me a fist bump before he jumped out the back and jogged home. My family was waiting outside (except for Papa), and piled onto me as soon as the emt cleared me. I was squished into my house for the first time in a couple of weeks. It smelled weird. My head still wasn't working right, and I barely even registered most of my mom's lecture, much less my brothers' chattering. I stumbled off to bed while they were still talking to me.

God, what a hell of a couple of days.

* * *

**Alright. This is short. Not what you were looking forward to, probably. This shit's fun, isn't it?**

**Anyhoo, I'll be gone for another two months (but you were probably expecting that), 'cause I'm going on vacation! I, too, like to live dangerously. I'll be offline for a blissful six weeks, but also preparing some new cool shit! Animatics, memes, you name it! I do technically have a YouTube now, but it's totally empty because I haven't actually made anything yet. No, I'm not telling you yet. It's empty.**

**So I updated the picture, too! This is my drawing of Haruto. Completely mine, don't worry! And my signature's in the corner. Yeah, I'm still working on it...**

**Stay healthy, everybody ~The Graceful Egg**


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